Grumps on the Run
by TakeThePRNDL
Summary: Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan were recording for their channel, Game Grumps one day. They were playing a game, as Game Grumps normally do, until one fateful event would shake up their lives. They didn't know what it was at first, but it'd be something they'd remember. (It's a Pokerus story, rated T for general descriptions of injuries and language sometimes) Platonic-only ship.
1. The Opening

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any Youtubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries.**

* * *

Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan were recording for their channel, Game Grumps one day. They were playing a game, as Game Grumps normally do, and Ross, Barry, and Suzy were playing their own game, this time for fun. Matt and Ryan, who had their own channel, SuperMega, were over to edit videos, and were watching the news with Brian. Brian's young daughter, Audrey, was sitting along with them. It was a normal day, and actually a pretty good one. Arin and Dan were about to finish a series, for once, Matt and Ryan were getting pretty good at editing, and Audrey almost said her first word. Everything was fine and dandy until there was an interruption on the news. It had never been done before, but the President of the United States had used the Emergency Alert System to break news. The message before hand clearly stated that this was NOT a test. When the President came on, it appeared to be the Vice President, panicked, the President busy unpacking, this quite literally having been the first thing that happened.

"Um..." The Vice President, Bo Elyria, said over the speaker, before the outgoing, but not yet replaced Secretary of State took over.

"Hello America." The Secretary of State said to a now very scared nation. "First I would like to say that..."

Then an explosion was heard. While it was too quiet to be anywhere near the White House, the camera crew, along with anyone and anyone they could nab, was evacuated to the bunker. While they were running, the Secretary of State continued. "I'd like to say that anyone that can evacuate the states of Nevada, California, and Oregon should do so, and as soon as possible." He was then drowned out by yelling by the Secret Service for a while. One of them requested to turn off the camera.

"No!" The Secretary of State yelled. "We need to address the nation and neither of our leaders are fit to do so!"

The Secret Service agent that suggested that sighed. "I guess we can keep it on."

"Good!" The SoS said back to him. "Well anyways." He coughed once. "My fellow Americans. We are in a time of great challenge. Three of our glorious fifty states are under attack, from a force nobody seems to know what it is. I have a feeling that many of you may fall in the west. I want to promise that Washington will not fall. D.C. That is. Washington state is absolutely screwed." He said, interrupted by a louder explosion. Somebody KNEW that this was going to happen, and that somebody is taking action. "But we don't know how powerful this adversary is. I request to you Americans that cannot evacuate to fight as well as you can, and those that can keep evacuees to do so. We may have to extend this evacuation order, so stay tuned if at all possible. I shall keep in direct touch with you, America, so that I can relay information directly to you." He then heard a young girls cries for help. A single guard broke escort to see what it was.

Upon arrival, right at the end of the West Wing, that guard arrived to a few littered survivors. Mostly agents of the FBI and the Secret Service. Most were unconscious. "Who's there!" The single guard asked. The girl cried out again, and upon seeing her, he noticed that it was the First Daughter, barely seven years old. The guard heard a cry for "Daddy" in between the cries of pain, her right leg blown off in the explosion. The guard took off his shirt to tie off the wound, before hearing another voice. "He's dead Jim." Another guard said to him as he picked the young girl up. "We should get down to the bunker."

Just after, the Secretary of State had received the news, and that the VP was a mess, the Speaker of the House was missing, and that the President Pro Tempore was old and they needed someone that would probably be alive for a while, the Speaker was told he'd be Acting President for now. "Well... My fellow Americans, I'd express condolence for the death of our President but we've gotta get to the bunker." He said as started down the stairs to the bunker. He decided to compromise with the guards, and put the cap on the camera, but was still live.

"Sorry about that!" The SoS yelled. "We don't want whoever's doing this to find out how to get down here!"

The guard that had saved the First Daughter, not having to rush in a crowd, quickly caught up to the rest of them, the SoS, along with a few other Secretaries, being the ones of Defense, Interior, Labor, Energy, and Homeland Security, along with the Attorney General.

"Hi mom!" Yelled the Secretary of Homeland Security, having been appointed at a young age of 32. She was at the bottom of the presidential succession line anyways, so push turned to shove, age wouldn't matter.

"I swear to god." The Secretary of Labor commented. "Lisa Von Cullen. Stop saying hi to your mum every time you get on TV," This man was a citizen through naturalization, and was also ineligible for the presidency unless something really bad happened. His dream job was Health and Human Services, so he could install a NHS-like item in America, well suggest one anyways.

After a bit of an argument between the two, the Secretary of Energy, Alexander Imari, interrupted. "Stop arguing!" HE yelled right as they reached the bunker, as another explosion went off. The two dozen-odd guards, along with the 7 cabinet members, walked into the bunker, where they were met by the director of the FBI, who had given the First Son a tour of the bunker.

"Why are you here?" The First Son, Reggie Levils, said slowly.

"Same to you." Lisa replied.

"I was taking him on a tour." The Director, Johnathan Juniper, replied.

"There was an attack." The guard carrying the First Daughter said, the SoS taking his hand off of the camera. "The President is dead."

"The First Daughter isn't in very good shape either." The guard that saved her said. "I had grabbed her from earlier, and that one cut off the circulation.

The Director asked what the two guards names were, them saying Carson and Ben. They were swiftly promoted to a task force, and one designed to contact as many citizens as possible, to compile a database of statuses.

While some chatting was going on, the SoS stated that the people had about six hours to get out of the evacuation zone, before they'd condemn it as a crisis-caused wasteland, assuming everyone not in eyeshot is dead, heavily altered, or about to be either of the two, and if the little knowledge they had was right, quite possibly both. If they left now, that'd be enough to make it to Phoenix. They'd have 4 to make it to Yuma, though that's with normal traffic. Brian suggested that they pack enough supplies for a long while, giving that they weren't going to make it out in six hours. They took it to a vote. Brian, Suzy, Matt, and Ryan voted yes, while Ross, Arin, Dan, and Barry voted no. They had Audrey break the vote, who agreed with her Daddy. They were to be plenty prepared for this, maybe even sack what's left of the stores along the way, though on foot, as they'd need every drop of gas on the actual trip there. They distinctly heard that if need be, they'd sell Alaska to get the money to combat it. They were given some sort of gift from Japan to defend cities such as Yuma, Redding, Denver, Salt Lake City, and basically anything really close to the border or west of the Mississippi river.

* * *

 **One hour later(5 hours until condemnation)...**

* * *

"I've got everything packed for two plus Audrey." Brian said. "Who's coming with?"

The Grumps were busy packing things. Suzy had finished packing the KittyKatGaming essentials, and some basic provisions. Brian picked her to tag along giving that he wanted out ASAP.

"Accodring to my math, giving we're in LA, people will be taking the I-10 to get to Arizona. That'll triple the time we have to get out. It might be quicker to take the I-5 to Seattle, or even Vancouver if we must." Brian said. He grabbed Audrey, his stuff, the radio with the emergency stations, and the stuff Suzy packed, along with Suzy's help.

* * *

 **A half-hour later(4.5 hours left)**

* * *

Matt and Ryan had finished up.

"What are you two doing?" Matt asked.

"Just finishing up." Suzy said. "Wanna come with? Brian packed for two and I packed for myself."

"No." Brian said. "At least, not in the same vehicle.'

"We could form a convoy." Matt replied.

Brian sighed. "IF you want. We're heading all the way north though, so you may not want to."

Ryan decided to stick it out on his own, hopping in the vehicle they brought with both their provisions. Matt ran out, begging for Ryan to stick around.

"Please!" He cried out.

Ryan was silent. He started his car, and drove off. Had it been in normal traffic, he could have _just_ made it to Yuma. But everyone was going that way in LA, and a lot of other people went due west, spare the people of San Diego, who fled to Mexico. Matt began to cry. Suzy and Brian were going to wait to at least say goodbye to the rest of them.

* * *

 **2 hours later(2.5 hours left)**

* * *

"We're done." The main grumps, Arin and Dan said.

"Get everyone met up." Brian demanded. " _Now."_

Dan sensed the urgency of the situation, calling Barry and Ross over.

"Ryan left." Brian said, Matt still barely holding himself together. There was a gasp from Barry.

"Without Matt?" Brian asked.

Matt slowly nodded. They overheard the newly coined "Seven Secretaries" chatting, saying that they can't guarantee many states, mainly the Midwest, and the South, minus Florida. They had recovered the Secretary of Agriculture as well, and despite the issues, things were looking up.

"Me, Suzy, and Matt are going north." Brian said.

"What?" Arin said. "Why?"

"We see that it'd be quicker than going through traffic." Brian said.

"Well I was going to go up to San Francisco and take the I-80 across." Dan said.

"Well then you and Arin can do that." Brian said.

"Well we could do that." Barry suggested, referring to him and Ross. "Arin and Dan could go south. Doesn't PBG live in Texas?"

"I think." Arin said. "Well he did anyways."

"He lives up north now." Dan commented. "Though he is visiting Houston now. Maybe, just _m_ _aybe_ you can catch him."

"How'd you know that?" Suzy asked.

"The internet." Dan said.

Suzy nodded slowly.

Brian returned to his idea. "So me, Audrey, Matt, and Suzy up north, and then west if necessary, Barry and Ross in the middle, taking the I-80, and Arin and Dan taking up the southern route, possibly meeting PBG vacationing in Houston is the plan?"

Suzy agreed, as did Matt. Barry and Ross weren't done, and were assigned to lock up the fort. Dan was done, but Arin was not. Audrey started crying for some reason, her hearing a scary noise.

"We'll leave now. Arin, Dan. You guys finish up, go west." Brian said. "Barry, Ross. Meet who you can in San Francisco, and then take the I-80 to safety. Preferably a major city. Actually if you can, go south on the I-15 to take the I-70. That'll take you through Denver, and worst-case scenario, cities like St. Louis, Columbus, and even Baltimore."

"Got it." Ross said. "Why are you leader again?" He asked.

"Because I can." Brian said. "Also, I was the first done.'

"And that means?" Ross asked again.

"Nothing really." Brian said. "Well good luck! Follow the plan!"

Brian gave time for Arin and Suzy to part ways, and then left. It had been four hours since the time-frame was announced.

Brian started up his vehicle, and began to drive off, leaving the four unable to finish packing by them to their own devices.

* * *

 **An hour later(60 minutes left)**

* * *

"We're off." Arin and Dan said. "We've gotta get going. Best of luck to ya." Arin saluted the pair left behind, before walking out the door and leaving.

"Bye." Ross said.

"We're about done ourselves." Barry said.

'We should hurry."

* * *

 **15 minutes later(45 minutes left)**

* * *

"Now." Barry said, locking the door behind them. "Off to the west."

'Off we go." Ross said, hopping in the large van they rented, driving off.

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

* * *

"So have we figured out who did this?" The Labor Secretary said.

"I've got an announcement." The SoS said. "Lisa Von Cullen. You may be too young for the job, but I'd like you to be Acting President. We may as well have a female president before we go out."

"Really?" Lisa replied.

"You can't do that!" The Energy Secretary objected.

"Actually." The Agriculture Secretary said. "Congress is dead mostly, and can't hold session for now. Anything that the Acting President says, goes. You've got my command."

"And plus." The SoS commented. "IT's not like any of this is official until we get a judge down here."

"I guess you have a point." The SoE commented. "Fine. What's the plan."

"That database." Lisa replied.

"So who did this?" The Brit, the Labor Secretary, commented again.

"I think it was just rebels in the west, and an opportune terrorist strike on the capital." The Director commented. "I'm blaming the Arabs."

'Seems fine with me." Acting President Lisa commented. "That's a go-to place to blame."

* * *

 **A/N: I'm doing this with a few other chapters but I know want to do with this one so...**


	2. The Introduction

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

* * *

 **POV: Team Brian(Brian, Suzy, Matt, Audrey[young])**

* * *

Just as Brian had predicted, everyone was taking the quick way out, leaving an almost empty northbound I-5. They had provisions for ten days for each of them, along with two more. This was along with the young Audrey's stuff, about a week's supplies. They weren't going to make it past the evac time, not by a long shot, but they'd make it. They'd make it to the next biggish city, Stockton, in about 5 hours, and had the gas to do so. Brian also packed a large amount of reserve fuel for an apocalypse run, giving gasoline would be a rarity. They'd grab what they could on the way, but no guarantees that there'd be any. As they were from Corona, the way to the I-5 was even easier, though they did see some signs of the disaster soon to come. There were people running from something, but the Grump Trio couldn't tell if it was just panic or if they were actually running from something.

"We should check that out." Suzy said.

"No." Brian said. "Best to stay in here unless we're going to be surrounded."

"Why not?" Matt said, the pair peering out the windows to see what it was. They saw a colorful thing in the distance, but with no discernability on it.

The trio waited to see what it was, giving they could drive off without any traffic. Brian turned the car off to save gas while they looked. The trio slowly came to the realization that that wasn't something that was supposed to exist, and Brian started the car.

Suzy yelped as the slimy thing, taking the form of a Pokemon, specifically an Emolga, jumped at the car. Brian sped off, pushing his van to its limits. After it was a bit farther away, it cried out for help. Matt requested we see what it needed, from a distance. It spoke little English.

"Need ride!" It yelled out.

"Should we?" Suzy asked. "It needs help!"

Brian sighed. They packed spare food for this exact reason. "If, and _only_ if It can follow orders."

Suzy yelled out to it, asking if it could follow orders.

It nodded, but the trio couldn't see it. "Think so. Never try." It said in its broken English.

The van backed up, and Brian got out, armed with a pistol, pointing to the slime. "This is just in case you can't follow orders and try and jump us. You did say 'never try'."

The Emolga sighed. She understood that though. "Okay..."

"Now you're going to hop in the trunk, and giving you seem rather gooey, and I'm not sure what you do to people, you're not to touch anyone. There should be a pet cage you can hang in for now, until I figure out what you are, and what I can do with you." Brian said, popping the cage open. The Emolga reluctantly hopped in the pet cage, though it was a cage for a big dog, so it wasn't cramped for the human-sized creature. Brian closed it up.

"We'll get you some food later. Just yip if you need anything." Suzy said, having also hopped out of the car earlier, and talking to them. Matt was still in there, keeping an eye on Aubrey.

"Okay!" The Emolga yelled. Brian had rendered a few things about this creature, like that is was fully grown, and was a female. She also wasn't feeling that well, a fact she wouldn't disclose to her new friend. She didn't feel that it was important enough to disclose.

"You guys ready?" Matt asked, seeing another car pass by. It wasn't Barry, as they had left to go another route. "I think following them would be a good idea."

Brian hopped in the car, as did Suzy. They were soon off, and off to look for the car that they had seen pass by.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan)**

* * *

"Hey Arin." Dan said, stuck in traffic. Just as Brian had predicted, the roads to the west were horrid.

"What's up Dan?" Arin responded.

"I think we should walk there." Dan said.

"Why?" Arin asked.

"I'm having a bad feeling..." Dan said, noticing a screech a little farther back, along with some gunfire. "There it is."

"People'll scatter.' Arin said. "I think anyways. Then we can just push out of the way."

There was some more fire, though it was coming from a few less places. Dan dug out whatever he had as armaments. There wasn't much, nothing more than a small 9mm pistol and a baseball bat.

He tossed the gun to Arin, Dan not being a good shot.

"Here's this." Dan said. "Use if needed, only if needed."

Something was rushing them. Well, not them in particular, probably whoever was at the front, taking who they could with them. Arin slowly opened the door, gun in hand, Dan followed. The pair tried to get a look at what was rushing the crowds. It was slimy, fast, and Dan made the likeness to Spiderman's Venom. It wasn't black though, it was grey, almost avian in nature. A Pokemon fan would render this as a Pidove, something the Grumps vaguely remembered from their Pokemon Sun play-through, but not too well.

"What is it?" Arin asked.

"Don't know." Dan said. "We shouldn't stick around to find out."

"It looks familiar." Arin said.

"How so?" Dan asked.

"I don't know..." Arin said, rather worried.

The Pidove had just finished investigating the vehicle three behind them, a blue SUV, when there was some scattering of vehicles in front of them. There was something in front of them, and they seemed to have closed the trap on Arin and Dan with the Pidove, whether intentionally or not. Then Dan came to a realization.

"Wait..." He said. "Wasn't Matt up there?"

"Well I think he was anyways." Arin said. "Why?"

"Because something happened somewhere up the road, but I don't know how far." Dan answered.

"Well we should probably focus on those thingies." Arin said, pointing the pistol out the window.

"Right." Dan decided to get out of the car, armed with his bat. Arin decided then to follow.

The Pidove seemed to have stopped, hearing a noise from farther back. The other one, a Glameow, decided to go at Arin and Dan anyways. Arin fired a shot towards the thing, but not at it, to scare it off. The Glameow did not seem to care about the gunfire, and went to see what the Pidove was investigating. The Glameow did point at them, then pointed at the ground beforehand though, implying that it wanted the pair to stay there.

"Should we follow them?" Arin asked.

"I think it wants us to stay.' Dan said. "And I don't know what it is."

"Yeah..." Arin said, turning to Dan. "But clearly there's something important there."

Dan sighed. 'Fine. We'll go."

Dan was going to tell Arin to go on his own, but he wanted them to stick together. Arin and Dan ran off, following the Glameow.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross)**

* * *

"So." Barry said, at a corner that would allow them to get on the Interstate.

"Yeah?" Ross replied.

'We've essentially got everything from the grump house that the others didn't pack." Barry said. "That includes most of the cash."

"So?" Ross replied. He knew what they _could_ do with the money, but what was Barry going to suggest?

"We could buy some things off of people, and if they're over-prepared, we could recruit them." Barry said back.

"I guess you're right." Ross said back to that. "We could recruit plenty of people, or just buy some food.

"That's really the limiting factor." Barry said. "And we could take the side-streets out of town."

"But that'd be slow." Ross said.

"But we don't have the time even if we could push this to its limit." Barry replied. "We'd barely make it out of town with all this traffic."

"Well we could take the side streets like you said I guess then." Ross said back.

"We have the cash for trading though." Barry said. "We'll meet with whoever's left up north I guess."

Barry and Ross decided to drive up north, using the side-streets. Who knows what they'll find.


	3. The Meet-Up

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 _"This will be the general use of translations."_

* * *

 **POV: Team Brian(Brian, Suzy, Matt, Audrey[young], ?.? (Emolga))**

* * *

Brian had just drove off in search of the second vehicle. He drove rather swiftly, wanting to see what the convoy could offer. While he did that, Matt and Suzy chatted.

"What do you think we'll find?" Suzy asked.

Matt shrugged.

"There's probably somethings we could discuss with Brian." Suzy replied to herself.

"Like what?" Matt asked, still kinda said about Ryan ditching them so early.

"What to name that thingy back there." Suzy said.

The creature implied, appearing to be a humanoid Emolga, yipped at the mention of herself.

"What is it?" Suzy asked.

"Not." The Emolga said, not being very good at English.

"Not?" Suzy said.

"Yeah." The Emolga responded.

"Maybe it means nothing?" Matt said, shrugging.

The Emolga yipped again. Right as that happened, Brian noticed the car, now pulled over, on the road. They pulled over next to it. The occupants took arms in reaction to this, and went up to the vehicle.

"Who is it?" The first member of the convoy, a Caucasian female with brown hair, said. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, nothing special. She was armed with a semi-automatic pistol.

"State your business." The second member, an African-American male, who had black hair, said. He wasn't armed.

"I just wanted to see who it was." Brian said. "You heading north?"

"Why'd you ask?" The female convoy member asked. "You doing that?"

"Yes." Brian said. "And back to your first question. The name's Brian. The girl's Suzy, the other guy's Matt, and the young one is Audrey.

"Yours?" The male convoy member asked.

"Why yes." Brian said. "We also caught some creature that seemed keen on tagging along. Mind if you see what it is?"

The two called over another member of the convoy, a Caucasian male with blonde hair.

"They've got a thing for you to check out." The first male said.

"Really?" The second male said, with a distinct British accent. "What kind?"

"They don't know." The female said.

The trio walked around the vehicle the Grumps had, and opened the trunk.

"It's caged. I didn't want to chance anything." Brian said.

"Don't hurt it!" Suzy said.

The trio seemed shocked at what they had found.

"Y-Y-You..." The female said.

"They couldn't have..." The first male said.

The second male called out the rest of them, a female Asian with black hair and a ginger-haired tan-colored person.

"You tamed one?" The second male, the Brit, said.

"We found it like that." Suzy said.

"I said it could tag along if it followed orders. It said it never tried before." Brian said.

"Ah." The Asian female said. 'It may have been tamed when you found it."

"Or never had become untame in the first place." The African-American said. "It may have just been infected."

"Infected?" Brian asked. "With what?"

The convoy huddled up for a bit. Brian heard something about them not knowing something.

After discussing the thing for a bit, the convoy broke huddle, and was going to tell something to Brian's group.

"Okay." The Brit said to the small group before him. "I'm Colin McCarthy. I'm the leader of this convoy."

"Brian Wecht." Brian said. "Nice to meet you. Then you've got Suzy Hanson, Matt Watson, that creature, and the young one, Audrey."

"Ah." Colin replied. "The Asian goes by Michelle, the African American male is Greg, and the girl you first met is Alyssa."

'Nice to meet you four." Suzy said.

'Yeah!" The Emolga said to agree.

"So." Colin said. "You were smart enough to head up north."

"Yeah.' Brian said. "And?"

"Giving that we're both heading north, you want to join up for now?" Colin responded.

"Why sure." Brian said. "Safety in numbers I guess."

"Good." Colin replied. "How do you guys feel about that?"

Alyssa was hesitant, but the other two were fine with this.

"Well that's that" Colin said. "Welcome to the team."

"What's this team called?" Brian asked.

"The Crimson Convoy" Colin said. "We were united by our love of the original Fallout games."

"Really?" Brian said.

"Well actually." Greg said. "My favorite was New Vegas, but they've got something like that so it's okay."

Colin nodded. "We really needed the manpower, so we let him in."

"Yeah." Greg said. "They did need more people."

"Well it's nice joining you." Suzy said.

Emolga yipped happily.

"Guess your thing agrees." Michelle said, giggling a bit."

"Guess so." Matt said.

"So." Brian said. "Got anything to trade? Or any information on her?" He was referring to Emolga.

"Not really." Colin said. "All that we know is that they're mostly female, and if one gets you, it's zombie logic and you become one. Doesn't always match appearance though."

"Really?" Matt said.

"I've heard you can tame them and they'll be less drippy around it's friends." Colin replied.

"Intriguing." Brian said.

"Yup." Colin said. "Well you've got food, so there's really no need for trading, and also we're part of the same convoy now."

"Right." Brian said.

"Well." Colin said. "Back to the van!"

Brian said the same to his group.

"Good luck!" Michelle yelled as their vehicle drove off.

"You too!" Suzy yelled back as Brian did the same to theirs.

And off they went, to the north, and onward to safety.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan)**

* * *

Arin and Dan had rushed off to see what was going on, against the slimy thing that they met's wishes.

"Really!" Arin yelled. "Should we be doing this!"

"It's not like it's going to spare us in particular if we did!" Dan yelled back.

"I guess..." Arin said, a bit quieter.

'See!" Dan said. "Now let's see what they're doing."

"Okay." Arin said. It took them a little bit, say 10 minutes, but they got right to about where the slimy thing was going.

"Here we are." Dan said.

Arin seemed a bit worried. "Should we really be doing this?"

Dan nodded. "We're already here..."

"And there's the thing..." Arin said, pointing at the Glameow.

"We should probably whisper" Dan whispered to Arin.

"Probably." Arin whispered back.

The Glameow and the Pidove had cornered a woman, who seemed scared. Arin suggested that if him and Dan helped the duo, they'd be able to be spared. They pulled out their weapons.

"Hey!" Arin yelled. "We're here to help!"

The woman breathed a sigh of relief, not realizing who Arin meant.

"Sorry lady!" Dan said. "We meant those thingies about to get you! Anything to stay alive I guess!"

The Pidove and Glameow discussed this in their native tongue, as the woman sighed, as I guess they were right.

 _"We'll let you guys tag along!"_ The Pidove said. Giving that it was in their language, the Grumps could not understand it.

"So we in?" Dan asked. The Pidove gave a thumbs up.

"We're in." Arin said.

"Guess you were right." Dan replied.

The Glameow came up to them and waved, and began jotting some things down on a piece of paper. They couldn't speak, but Glameow could write things.

"What's she doing?" Arin asked.

'Looks like she's gonna tell us something." Dan said.

The duo waited for Glameow to be done writing.

"How long is this going to take?" Arin asked.

The Glameow was soon done writing. Arin picked up the note.

"What's it say?" Dan asked.

"It says that giving we're humans, we'll want to head out west. They're finished up their share of the highway, and thus can escort us fairly easily." Arin replied.

Glameow nodded.

"It also says that they'd love to be pets once they're done infecting people." Arin said.

"Infecting people?" Dan asked.

"Must be carriers." Arin said.

"May I ask what you're infecting people with?" Dan asked Glameow.

Glameow shook her head.

"Okay." Dan said.

"Well off we go I guess?" Arin said.

Pidove nodded, and Glameow began to write again.

Arin picked up the note after it was done. It said "Off we go!", and the quarter was then off.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross)**

* * *

Barry and Ross were driving down the side-streets, looking for littered survivors. They had taken the vehicle left over given the other Grumps had already left. They went down the roads, combing for anything or anyone. All they found was packs of weird humanoid creatures.

"Hold on..." Barry said. "Are those Pokemon?"

'I mean..." Ross said back. "Maybe?"

"They kinda look like it." Barry said.

"Yet they're human-like..." Ross replied.

'Wait!" Ross said, pointing to what appeared to be a husband and wife. "There's a pair!"

"Yeah..." Barry said, the vehicle pulling over, him rolling down the window. "Hey!" He yelled, signalling the two.

"Don't draw attention!" The husband said. "We're trying to get inside."

"You live here?" Barry asked.

"No.' The wife said. "It's just that the person who lives here hasn't left and is gathering survivors. We had just gone and gotten food."

"Ah." Barry said. "Well mind if we come in?"

"Guess so." The husband said. "Whether you can stay or not is up to the person who lives there though."

"Why?" Ross asked.

"You might be smuggling a slime." The wife said. "We barely got in with ours."

"And how'd you do that?" Barry asked.

"I'll have the person who lives here tell you. Best to find out when you're inside." The wife said.

The husband and wife handed some stuff for Barry and Ross to carry, and the quartet went inside. The man living there, appearing to be an elderly prepper, was pale-skinned and was wearing a tin-foil hat. There was a whimper-like cry heard through the vents.

"Welcome." The man said. "To the adobe."

"Thank you." Barry said. "We were looking for survivors to trade with or recruit."

"Those two want to make it back home." The elderly man said. "And you can take their daughter with them. We've got plenty of people, and she won't stop balling."

"May I ask why she's crying?" Barry replied. "And what that has to do with the so-called 'slime' these two 'smuggled in'"

"Ah yes." The elderly man said. "You want to know about the slimes."

"Yeah." Barry said.

"Are you ready to know these secrets?" The elderly man said. "The truth hurts."

"We'll brace for it." Barry said.

"If you insist.' The elderly man said. "These 'slimes'... They were a government creation. They saw that if they could make real Pokemon, the money they'd make selling them off to Nintendo would be enough to pay off the debt."

"Really?" Ross said, unsure of whether to believe this man in a tinfoil hat.

'Yes." The tinfoil hatted man said. "They broke out, and transformed the scientists into one of them, and went at the west coast."

"How?" Barry asked.

'By using their slime." The man replied. "They can spread it to alter the form. It's sticky when it wants to be."

"And is that how the slime those two mentioned," Barry said, in reference to the one the couple brought in. "Transformed?"

"Yes." The old man replied. "Poor thing... Also got genderbent."

"Can we go see her?" Ross asked.

"Sure." The elderly man said. "I do want her out of here, so tagging along would help."

"Ah." Ross said. "Good to know."

"Where is she?" Barry asked.

"Up those steps." The elderly man said. "Take a left, last room on the right."

As Barry and Ross started up the stairs, the old man had one last thing to say.

"I'm Bernie by the way." He said. "Tell her I sent you."

"Okay." Barry said, walking up the stairs. Ross followed him.

The walked down the hallway to the left, and found a bathroom. Ross had to go, so Barry decided to take the endeavor on his own, knocking on the door that was said to be the room by Bernie.

"W-what is it now!" The previously mentioned slime asked.

"I wanted to meet you." Barry replied. "Bernie sent me. And someone else, but they're in the bathroom right now."

Barry heard a walking noise, and the slime peeped through the peephole.

"You l-look familiar." The slime said back.

"Why?" Barry asked.

"I don't k-know..." The slime replied.

"Well mind if I take a look at you?" Barry asked. "Because if you opened that door you'd have a better seeing of me, and maybe you could tell who I was."

"R-right..." The slime said, cracking open the door. "What did Bernie tell you by the way?"

"That you transformed, the secrets and all that." Barry said. "Also that you were genderbent."

"Okay." The slime replied. "So I won't spook you?"

"As far as I know." Barry said. "No."

The slime opened the door a little farther, revealing something Barry wasn't quite expecting, but something he saw as within reason.

"You're one of those things huh?" Barry said.

"Yeah..." The slime said, awkwardly rubbing her arm. "I get to be a Sylveon."

"Well at least you're one of the cute fluffy ones." Barry said.

"I guess so..." The Sylveon said back.

"You got a name?" Barry asked.

"Quite honestly." The Sylveon said. "The transformation messed up my mind, and I don't really remember. Bernie calls me Sylv or Sylvie when not referring to me as 'the slime upstairs."

"Well I'm Barry." Barry said.

"Barry..." Sylv said. "That's a name I remember... Why though..."

Barry shrugged, slowly. "Maybe you knew me previously?" He was internet famous after all.

"Well you seem nice anyways." Sylv responded. "Probably was nice to know ya."

"Thanks." Barry said back, as Ross came out of the bathroom. "May I ask what happened?"

"Not right now..." Sylv said back.

Ross had walked up. "This that slime Bernie was talking about?"

"Yes." Barry said. "Ross, this is Sylv. Sylv, this is Ross. The slime here also goes by Sylvie."

"Well nice to meet you then." Ross said.

"Same here I guess...' Sylv said back, sighing. "Why does everyone seem so familiar?" She said to herself.

"Transformation take a toll on you?" Ross asked.

"Yeah..." Sylv said. "Though on the bright side, I'm now multilingual!"

"How?" Barry asked.

"Well I speak English, obviously." Sylv said. "And now I speak whatever language Pokemon speak, and for some odd reason, perfect Russian!"

"Russian huh?" Barry said.

 _"Isn't it cool?"_ Sylv said in Russian.

"Well you know neither of us understand Russian." Ross commented.

"Oh right." Sylv said. "I said 'Isn't it cool?'"

"I guess so." Brian said.

Ross shrugged.

"It really isn't that useful right now though...' Sylv said. From the looks of it though, she was improving a bit, as her tail perked up, previously drooping.

"Mind if we come in?" Barry asked.

"No." Sylv said. "A slime's viscosity is tied to it's emotion, and giving that I'm out of it a bit, I'm all drippy."

"Yeah." Ross said. "I see that."

"It also doesn't help that I'm a new slime anyways." Sylv said back.

"Hm." Barry said. "That's something to know. So how come you're still human in nature but those ones outside seemed feral?"

"Luck of the draw I guess." Sylv said back.

"Ah." Ross said. "Well I'm gonna go down and see what Bernie has to offer. Maybe see if we can found a country out of the ashes of this area."

"Really?" Sylv said. "It's time already?"

"Just about." Ross said.

"Wow." Sylv said.

"So how long you been like that?" Ross asked. "May as well ask before I go."

"About 10 days." Sylv said. "I was one of the first infected..."

"Ah." Barry said. "Not sure whether to be sorry for you or not. Though maybe that's why you're not feral?"

"Possibly." Sylv said. "That could be it."

They'd ask Ross, but he had already gone downstairs.

"So is there anything you really want besides turning back?" Barry said.

"Actually..." Sylv said. "Once I solidify a bit, it won't be that bad!"

"Really?" Barry said.

"I mean, I'm stuck up here for another two weeks at least, then after that, as long as I'm peppy enough, I should not drip." Sylv said back.

"Well that's good." Barry said.

"Yeah." Sylv said. "I'd invite you to play a game with me, but I don't want to transform you so..."

"Why not one of those smartphone games?" Barry asked.

"Right!" Sylv said, a bit more excited. 'What'd ya got?"

* * *

 **Meanwhile in the secret presidential bunker...**

* * *

"I've gotta do it now." The Acting President, Still being Lisa, said, talking about kicking the three states out of the union. "We've got 5 territories. We're bound to be able to get back up to 50."

"Mr. Director Juniper." The First Son, Reggie said. "Can we have new outcropping nations?"

"What do you mean?" The Director said.

"Like anyone who can afford to hand a diplomat to here can get recognition of whatever's left, assuming there's still contact." Reggie said.

"Sure." Lisa said. "Why not? Alex." She said in reference of the SoE. "Ask the territories if they want statehood."

"On it?" He said back, unsure of why, but not wanting to ask.

"We're actually doing pretty well here." The Agriculture Secretary said.

"Yeah!" Lisa yelled. "So let's do this!"

* * *

 **A/N: This is so much easier to write for some reason.  
**


	4. The Recruitment

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

* * *

 **POV: Crimson Convoy(Colin, Michelle, Greg, Alyssa, Brian, Suzy, Matt, Audrey[young], ?.? (Emolga))**

* * *

Brian's crew had just joined the Crimson Convoy, since both had intentions of heading north.

They were just arriving at the town of Santa Clarita. At about 200,000 people, it was one of the biggest in the area, and in the top 25 in what was the state of California, as the decision to kick the three quarantined states out of the union in favor of overseas territories was something what was left of the U.S government wanted to do.

"Well." Colin said to his teammates. "Think we should go big or try and keep a small crowd? Also, get some two-way or CB radios for Barry and his crew so we can communicate."

"Yes to both of those." Alyssa said.

"I say big." Greg said. "You already let in me, and I liked New Vegas anyways."

Michelle nodded to that.

"So should we stop here?" Colin asked.

"Sure! We should discuss with our new group." Alyssa said.

The car pulled over, and Brian's car followed.

"Why here?" Brian yelled asking, having rolled down his window.

"Well." Colin said. "We gotta have contact on the move, so we need communication devices. Two-way or CB radio preferably."

"Also." Alyssa said. "We gotta search the city."

"Why?" Suzy asked. "We've got supplies."

"But we lack manpower." Colin said. "We should find survivors."

"Guess so." Suzy said. "Split up?"

Colin shook his head no. "I'd rather not get us picked off one by one,"

"Fine." Matt said.

Barry dug out his two-way radio, having kept it for later purposes. "Will this do?"

"Yeah." Colin said. "Thanks."

"Now off we go." Colin said, driving off first.

"Guess we could test this." Brian said.

"Yeah. That." Emolga said.

Brian tested the radio, and it worked!

"You read me?" Brian said, testing to see if the communication worked.

"Yeah." Colin said. "These work pretty good."

"Thanks." Brian said. "So where to first?"

"Let's go down the main street." Colin said. "Check businesses for loot."

"Okay.' Brian said, following Colin.

"Onwards." Colin said, as he drove to the main street of the town.

"We'll leave via the Route 126 exit." Colin said via the two-way radio.

"Got it." Brian said. "So how many do we have room if they don't have a vehicle?"

"Three here." Michelle said.

"Two for us." Suzy said. "Maybe another one of those things too."

"Okay." Colin said.

The group drove up Sierra Highway, and got onto Newhall avenue, to stock up on gas, as there was a gas station there. A Chevron station to be exact. They found plentiful cars, lined up. They ignored it in favor of a much less busy due to it being up the road Shell station. That's not to say the lines weren't long, but they both managed to fill up and fill 1 of the Crimson Convoy's 5 gallon gas tanks before being forced to go.

Eventually, they turned down Race Street, and found a residential zone.

Colin noticed as they passed the 24000s in adresses that a middle-aged man was fighting a younger slime. He had appeared to be on top of his truck.

"Hey!" Colin yelled as he rolled down his window. 'Need a lift?"

"A lift?!" The man yelled. "If this thing wasn't blocking me from getting off my truck here!"

"I'll help." Michelle said, jumping out of the Convoy's van. Door still open, she baited the slime over with some laughing. "Can't get me!"

The slime growled, and dashed towards Michelle. She closed the door in time, giving the man the precious few moments to get in his vehicle.

"There you go! Follow us!" Colin said, quickly pulling up his window. The three vehicles drove off, as there were better times to introduce themselves.

They combed through the rest of the residential block that they had found, but eventually found one more group of survivors. This was on Pine Street, right by the corner of Market Set Street and near that, Railroad Avenue. It was a group of eight or nine, all armed. They were in hot pursuit by a few slimes, but it was unknown whether it was one that turned many or a group ambush.

"Help!" The farthest person ahead yelled. Barry decided to stop, radioing to Colin. "Should we?"

"If you want." Colin said. "Good luck."

Brian waved down the now counted 7, the straggler being jumped by a little baby Pichu.

"Yo!" The one second to back said, an African American male. "Wanna help!"

Brian fired a shot, distracting the slimes.

"Thanks!" The third one said as the farthest back was infected, that not being helped by the distraction shot.

"Got a vehicle?" Suzy asked.

"No." The front person said.

"Then we've only got room for two." Suzy said.

The front person, identified as a White female, tripped the male behind him, leaving 5 left, Suzy popped open the door.

"Whoever wants in gets it!" Suzy yelled, as Brian turned down Market Street, then Railroad Avenue.

The slimes, having recovered, jumped the tracks, and rushed at the remaining 5.

The groups went further up the road, as the middle person was jumped. The African-American, now at the back, avoided the slimes by jumping a small wall in between the two automotive dealerships near the intersection. This also allowed him to catch up, taking a dive at the vehicle as it turned the corner onto Lyons Avenue and began to speed up.

"And who are you?" Suzy asked.

"Jump in back." Brian said.

The new guy complied. "The name's Tyrone." He laughed a bit out of the nose. "To think, this is the third group I've followed today. At least you guys got a car."

Suzy smiled.

Brian radioed to Colin. "We picked up one of those people in that group. Colin, this is Tyrone."

"Nice to meet you." Colin said. "Welcome to the team."

"Thanks." Tyrone said.

"You're welcome." Colin replied.

The other 4 began to disband, the white girl hiding in the nearby deli, and a duo, a husband and wife, both French tourists, kept running. The fourth, having tripped on a rock, was jumped by the slimes.

Brian slowed down, in an attempt to catch at least one of them. The wife while running, began to converse in French with her husband.

 _"I think I can get there!"_ The wife said.

 _"Then go."_ The husband said. _"Better one than none I guess..."_

 _"I can't just leave you!"_ The wife said.

 _"And I don't want to see us both go for a little thing called love."_ The husband replied.

 _"But honey!"_ The wife yelled.

 _"_ _I love you and that's why I'm doing that_ _._ _"_ The husband said.

The wife dashed ahead, hoping at least she could get in. _"I love you!"_

 _"I love you too."_ The husband said.

"Open trunk!" The Emolga yelled.

"Wait hold on." Tyrone said. "You've got one of those things in here?"

"Yeah. She's tame." Suzy said.

Tyrone was too shocked to say anything.

"Why?" Suzy asked Emolga.

"Trust me!" Emolga yelled back.

Brian popped open the trunk, right as the wife got past, and got in. Emolga just managed to slip through the bars, and got out, making sure that _she_ was the one to transform the husband. After that, the Emolga picked up the transforming Frenchman, and noticed that while she could barely squeeze through, the Frenchman could not.

"Stop!" Emolga yelled.

"What now?" Suzy asked.

"Can't in!" Emolga said back.

Brian cut through a parking lot, and stopped right before Chestnut Street, making sure he was safely hidden behind the dance studio. Suzy hopped out to open the cage, and noticed the other slime.

"Who is this?" Suzy said.

"Just formed!" Emolga yelled. "Is friend."

"Really?" Suzy said. "You remembered somebody?"

Emolga nodded, this was of course, a lie, but maybe when her English was a little better she could explain.

"Good for you!" Suzy said. "I'd hug you, but, you know."

Emolga nodded again. Suzy popped open the cage, and let the two in.

"So who are you?" Matt asked.

 _"I'm_ _Mariette."_ The wife said.

"Do you speak English." Brian asked.

 _"No."_ Mariette replied.

"If I'm remembering high school French right." Tyrone said. "She said no."

"Well we should probably go." Brian said.

"Agreed." Suzy said. "We've rescued the ones we can."

"I'll third that." Matt said.

"Guess that's a majority of the English speaking people." Tyrone said.

And off they drove, and eventually caught up to Colin.

"Hey!" Brian yelled, having rolled down his window.

"Oh hello." Colin said.

"Yeah hi!" Alyssa said.

"So what's the deal now?" Greg said.

"We saved two people, and Emolga got a slime buddy that was one of her friends as a human!" Suzy yelled.

"Okay." Colin yelled. "Though I don't like too much you've got two of those things."

"Yeah, but Emolga will keep it in check!" Suzy yelled.

"Fine I guess." Colin said.

And off they drove.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Pidove, Glameow)**

* * *

Arin and Dan had joined the two slimes, one of them being able to write, and the four were going to cross the abandoned cars and feral slimes to get there.

"So you're not infecting us?" Dan asked.

Glameow shook her head no.

"Are you just sparing us?" Arin asked.

Pidove nodded, Glameow shrugged.

"Wouldn't it be easier to take our car and go the wrong way?" Dan said. "The laws don't apply anymore from my math."

Glameow gasped. _"They did have a car..._ _"_ She said in her native tongue. She began to write again.

After she was done, another 5 minutes, Arin read the note aloud.

"Yeah." Arin said. "You're right. Find it if you can."

After about another 5 minutes, they found the Grump's car.

"There it is." Dan said.

Arin got in the car and started it up, inviting Dan in the front and the slimes in the back.

"That good?" Arin asked the slimes, Glameow again writing something down.

The note said that it was.

"Buckle up?" Arin asked.

Glameow nodded, doing so. She then proceeded to help Pidove.

"There we go." Dan said. "Nice of you to help your friend like that."

Glameow smiled.

Dan and Arin drove off, Dan deciding to ask a few yes or no questions.

"You from around here?" Dan asked. Glameow shook her head no, but Pidove nodded.

"You two friends originally?" Dan asked. The pair shook their heads no.

"So you haven't known each other long?" Dan asked. They nodded.

"Ah." Dan said. "Arin, you got any questions? Yes or no only."

"Sure." Arin said. "You have other friends?" Glameow shrugged, and began to write. Pidove shook her head no.

Glameow wrote, asking if Arin and Dan counted.

"Hey." Dan said. "That's sweet of ya."

Glameow smiled.

"But we're not sure yet." Arin said. "You can count us, but it isn't quite mutual yet giving we just met."

Glameow seemed a bit saddened by this, but nodded to thank them for the gesture.

Arin and Dan continued to drive down the highway, undeterred by what was happening around them.

Now driving at full tilt, Arin and Dan made great progress, but so did their slimy adversaries. Who knows how far ahead they were. Best to keep driving until they get to the next big city, Phoenix. They could make it on the fuel, even at full tilt, as at normal speeds their gas tank was at 350 miles just about full.

They worked their way through Riverside, and found nothing.

Nothing came of Moreno Valley either. The slimes had closed the gap by now.

Beaumont, Banning, Cabazon, and Whitewater looked about the same.

Indio, on the other hand, seemed like a place the slimes hadn't got to yet, or didn't do very well in. They noticed when passing by the thing, right about at the exit, another moving vehicle.

"Should we check that out?" Dan asked.

"Well we should at least outnumber the..." Arin paused to think of what they are. "Things..."

"No offense anyways." Dan said. "We just don't know what you are."

Glameow nodded.

With that out of the way, they decided to exit, now on Indio Boulevard.

After a turn down Jefferson Street, they found the vehicle at a looted CVS, and a woman getting out. She had three kids with her, all rather young, the eldest looking about 8.

Arin and Dan, along with the two slimes, pulled into the place. Arin and Dan got out, instructing the slimes to stay in.

"Hey!" Dan said. "Need any help? We got escort."

"Escort?" The woman asked. "What kind?"

"We're sorta famous, and thus the thingies of the area have spared us." Dan said.

"And how are you such famous?" The woman asked.

"Me, along with him over there." Dan said, pointing to Arin. "Are the Game Grumps."

"I've heard of them." The woman said. "But there is no way you are JonTron."

"Actually." Arin said. "Jon left kinda early. This is Dan, his replacement. He was actually supposed to get his own show with Ross."

"You're..." The woman said. "Egoraptor..."

"Yup." Arin said.

"Well I'd love to follow you guys. But the escort?" The woman said.

"They're fine. The one can write too." Dan said.

"Well what do you think kids?" The woman replied to her three kids.

"Okay!" The eldest said.

The middle child was scared, and the youngest too young to have a general opinion on the matter.

"Well then that's a yes." The woman said.

"But take your own vehicle." Arin said. "That'll be for the best."

The woman seemed fine with that. "You guys need anything?"

"We're packed fine for now. You?" Dan said.

"Well I guess I can go in if you watch the kids." The woman said.

Arin seemed fine with that.

"Yeah, that's fine." Dan said.

"Well okay!" The woman said. "Be right back!"

The woman said goodbye to her kids, and ran inside.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross)**

* * *

Barry, having just met Sylv, a slime that had appeared to stay completely human in personality, went downstairs, to see what Ross and Bernie were up to.

"Sure you don't want to come down?" Barry asked Sylv at the top of the stairs.

"I'm fine!" Sylv yelled. "Don't want slime everywhere!"

'Right." Barry said, going down the stairs.

Ross and Bernie were already chatting, seeing what the ones could offer.

"Find replacements." Bernie said. 'And I'll let you have the husband and wife, and their slime. But not the slime. She can make things sometimes into slimes, so she's got a few that rather don't like her for creating them. They'll stay here, and she can go."

"Ah." Ross said, discussing the terms to Barry.

"Why not?" Barry said. "We could use the recruits."

Ross reluctantly agreed.

"By the way." Bernie said, his NY accent showing. "That slime's gotta good sniffer. You could use her."

"Okay." Barry said. "Can you call her?"

"Yo Sylv!" Bernie yelled up the flight of stairs. "You gotta go on patrol!"

"Again?" Sylv asked.

"Yeah again!" Bernie yelled back.

"Fine...' Sylv said. 'Who ya sacrificing?"

"The new ones!" Bernie yelled. Sylv hopped down the stairs, making extra sure not to leave any slime.

"Barry and Ross?" Sylv said. "Well I guess I could tag along..."

"Sacrificing?" Barry asked.

"Yeah." Sylv said. "Slimes are everywhere!"

"Ah." Ross said. "Well we've got our car..."

"And what happens if the gas runs out?" Sylv asked.

"It won't be that bad. We've got like three-quarters of a tank. The area isn't that big, is it?"

"Probably not...' Sylv said. "Maybe 100 miles of searching?"

"That should be good." Barry said. "Even accounting for stopping."

Sylv sighed. "Fine... I'm not actually solid, so if the trunk's available..."

"It's kinda full..." Ross said.

"It's fine though." Sylv said. "Unless it's absolutely packed. I've been a slime long enough to be slime all the way down."

"What do you mean?" Barry asked.

"You don't know?" Sylv said. "Well that's part of the transformation. The slime covers you, and then your insides kinda melt." Barry could tell she didn't like saying that, probably because that spawns the memories of her own experience. If you can't get an antidote in about 18 hours, it's pointless due the absorption of the flesh and you wouldn't have skin."

"What." Ross said.

"Yeah..." Sylv said, an audible sigh in her voice.

"And that's already finished up with you?" Ross asked. "Didn't this just start?"

"Didn't I tell you I was patient like one or something? The first half of the uncontrollably contagious part is melting down, the other half is learning to stay solid." Sylv said.

"Good to know." Ross said. "And I think you did."

"So how long should we be out there?" Barry asked.

"36 miles will cover all the major roads." Sylv said. "About a hundred or two for the rest. I can get you refills, as there happens to be a Chevron within the range, and a Valero, a 76, and another Chevron right down the I-5."

"So." Bernie said. "You guys ready for what's probably the greatest challenge in your life?"

"Guess so." Ross said.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Barry said.

"Good." Bernie said. "You know your way back, right Sylv?"

"Yeah." Sylv said.

"Also good." Bernie said. "You also know to come back alone if they get transformed? So don't get attached."

"Didn't know that one, but yes. I'll comply." Sylv said. Barry and Ross got a bit worried there, but Sylv said everything would be fine, even though that may not be true.

"Well goodbye." Bernie said.

And off Barry, Ross, and Sylv went, off to patrol the area, and find some survivors for Bernie and his small new state.


	5. The Stopping Point

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

* * *

 **POV: Crimson Convoy(Colin, Michelle, Greg, Alyssa, Brian, Suzy, Matt, Audrey[young], Emolga, Tyrone, Mariette, ?,?(Emolga's "friend"), George)**

* * *

Having just rescued a French woman and an African-American man, Barry had just met up with the rest of the Crimson Convoy, and decided to drive off.

"Wait." Brian said.

"What is it now?" Colin asked.

"We never did ask about that guy in the truck we rescued." Brian said.

They stopped for a moment, the extra male introducing himself as George. George said that he had room for three more in his truck, not including the bed, but lacked supplies.

"Well that's fine. We've got plenty for a short trip like this." Colin said.

"Well off we go then?" Brian asked.

Colin nodded, going off again, but saying this beforehand. "Let's go now."

Brian drove off, soon followed by George.

* * *

 _5 minutes later..._

* * *

Having drove down Lyons Avenue, towards the Interstate, Barry had encountered a Police vehicle, Brian stopped to say hello, hopping out.

"Go if you need to." Brian said to Matt and Tyrone, currently in the front.

Tyrone nodded.

"Hello officer." Brian said to the officer, who was hiding.

The officer peaked her head. "Hello?"

"You need any help?" Brian said, offering his hand.

The officer was held in disbelief. "There's somebody out there?"

Brian seemed a bit annoyed, but kept at it. "Yes. I'm here to help if you want."

They peeked their head out from the area they were hiding in, noticing Brian. "Oh hello..."

"Hello." Brian said. "Would you like to tag along with us?"

"Oh sure!" The officer said. It became clear this was a female officer. She got out of the police vehicle, uneasily pointing her gun down the road, as the slimes were kinda everywhere at this point.

"Get in with George." Brian said. "He's in the truck there."

The officer complied. "Wait! What's your name?"

"Brian." Brian said.

"I'm Lizzy." The officer replied. "I was on patrol when this started..."

"Well that's fine." Brian said. "We'll just head up north, try out Seattle."

Lizzy replied in approval. 'I'd ask about what you are doing, but you've already said. "

"Onward then?" Brian asked.

Lizzy nodded, her vehicle still working, the fourth vehicle joining the small motorcade.

Brian looked at the time. It was already late afternoon, or early evening, and they weren't even out of town yet.

"Should we get going?" He radioed over to Colin. "It'll be dark by the time we get out of here."

Colin agreed. "North again?"

"We're taking the Five." Brian said.

"Let's go." Greg suggested. "Those things do look kinda close now..."

Brian agreed, gesturing to turn north.

* * *

 _about 2 hours later..._

* * *

"It's getting dark." Suzy commented.

"Yeah..." Matt commented.

"Well the road's empty." Colin radioed over. "Not like we'll hit anything."

"Those creatures." Michelle commented.

"Maybe..." Colin replied.

"We could go off at that exit." Brian commented.

"Yeah." Colin replied.

The next exit they ran into had a makeshift border checkpoint. A man was standing there.

"Welcome to Lost Hills." The man said. "This is the westerly fort."

"I wouldn't call it a fort myself, but..." Michelle commented.

"We're working on it." The man said. "Anyways. What brings you here."

"We were looking for a place to camp out for the night." Colin said.

"What's that in the back?" The man said, talking about Emolga.

"The slimes?" Colin said. "They're tame. Pets too."

"And the others?" The man said.

"They're with us." Colin said. "Just humans there."

"Well fine." The man said. "You can come and stay in the inn, then the leader will probably want to see you."

The convoy complied, being guided to a Motel 6 in the process of being converted to a check-in for the fort. This fort was the most fortified of the four forts guarding the town, having come right off the interstate with truck stops and restaurants. They had a good night for what would eventually come, and would be ready to meet with leadership tomorrow.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Pidove, Glameow)**

* * *

Arin and Dan were just tasked with watching three kids, as their mother went into the CVS nearby to get supplies. The CVS wasn't looted, but wasn't swarmed either.

"Hello Mister Grump." The eldest said.

"Hello." Arin said. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Liam!" The child said.

"Well I'm Arin." Arin said. "Nice to meet you."

The middle child looked around, and the youngest kinda just wandered off. Dan was tasked to keep that one from going away.

The Glameow knocked on the window, having wrote something down. Dan picked up the youngest, and walked over there. That youngest child, however, was being rather fussy.

"What now?" Dan asked. Glameow rolled down the window, and stuck the paper through the open bit.

"Arin!" Dan yelled.

"What?" Arin replied.

"The cat one says she wants to come out!" Dan said.

"Well I wasn't exactly comfortable with taking them along!" Arin said. 'They're only guides, and I don't think things are going to go well if they get someone infected!"

Pidove nodded, having saw Arin's point.

Glameow, on the other hand, seemed persistent, meowing.

Arin sighed. "I'm gonna go in." Arin walked in, Liam following.

"I'm gonna come too!" Liam yelled.

Arin seemed fine. Two was better than one I guess.

"So uh..." Dan said to Glameow after Arin went in. "Should we let you out now that Arin's not here?"

Pidove objected to this, liking Arin more than Dan.

Glameow hopped out, and walked around a bit. Dan made sure the kid didn't touch anything, as Arin would flip if anything happened.

"Don't touch anything, okay?" Dan asked.

Glameow nodded, resisting the urge to hug Dan.

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

* * *

Arin and Liam walked into the CVS, first looking around to see if there were any slimes, after that looking for the mother. The only signs of life they saw upon first glance was a pair of adolescent Eevees trying their best to keep the store running.

"Sh..." Arin said, trying to sneak past the pair.

Liam tried to sneak, but it did not go so well, the Eevees noticed, springing up in a panic due to the customers. They were both females, as slimes generally were.

" _Oh I am so sorry..."_ The first Eevee, a shorter, almost fluffier species, that seemed to have been exposed a little longer, not that Arin would know anything about this progression. She seemed the slightest bit upset about something, but didn't let off why. She was even wearing a bit of employee uniform, and she was quite happy about this.

 _"Y-y-yeah!"_ The other Eevee, a taller, bustier, and quite drippy species, that seemed to be recently transformed, again, not like Arin would know this.

 _"Want to buy anything?"_ The first Eevee asked.

Arin was very scared. "Woah woah woah!" He quickly grabbed something to use as a makeshift weapon, grabbing a lipstick.

 _"Hey hey hey!"_ The first Eevee said, rather scared herself. _"Just trying to be a shopkeep..."_

Liam seemed more interested in dealing with the two, walking up to say hi.

The second eevee seemed scared of the human contact, and the first eevee went to man the check-out.

 _"Oh hi!"_ The Eevee asked. _"What do you want little guy?"_

Liam didn't understand the Eevee, but asked what it was anyways.

 _"Oh um..."_ The Eevee said. _"I'm not exactly sure..."_

Liam looked at the Eevee, trying to identify it.

Arin seemed a bit less scared of the pair now, coming out from the somewhat hiding, but still armed with the lipstick.

"You're one of those things..." Arin noted.

The Eevee sighed. It didn't like being one of those things too much.

"What's wrong?" Arin asked, still keeping his distance.

It pointed its index 'finger' to its goopier counterpart.

"That?" Arin asked. The Eevee nodded.

"Huh." Arin said, setting the lipstick down, realizing that it was pretty useless anyways. "So you operate this?"

The Eevee nodded again.

"So I can buy stuff?" Arin asked. The Eevee nodded, more excitedly than the previous two times.

"Well fine then." Arin said, proceeding to peruse the halls for items that he and Dan could use on their adventure. Most of what was there when the abandonment happened was still there, and besides the automatic doors, this could serve as a well enough holdout for a few days. The power was still on, but who knows how long that would last.

Arin soon came back, with a plethora of snacks and water. The Eevee was quite happy to see him.

"So um..." Arin said. "Are you charging for these?"

The Eevee nodded, but pointed the crudely handwritten sign pointing out a sort of going out of business sale, a large discount going towards items.

Arin paid for the items anyways, and headed on his way, but not before the Eevee barked to get him to stop. Arin wondered what the creature wanted, who was chatting with it's colleague.

 _"You sure you want to do this?"_ The slimier one said.

 _"Yeah! I want to see the world!"_ The first Eevee replied. _"And plus, you've got this! Make a... Whatever we are society!"_

The slimier of the Eevees nodded. _"But him?"_

 _"He's got a kid! Maybe when I stop dripping I can play with them!"_ The first Eevee said.

 _"I guess..."_ The second Eevee said.

The first Eevee gave her slimier partner a hug. _"I'm gonna miss you. Hope I hear from you!"_ She said as she exited the clerk stand to go up to Arin. This gave Arin quite a shock.

"Hey..." Arin said, a bit scared. "What are you doing?.."

The Eevee barked happily, trying to gesture that she was coming with.

Arin decided to go, the Eevee following.

When Arin came out, he noticed Dan parked right outside.

"Dan?" Arin said.

"Yeah..." Dan said. "Stuff kinda went down while you were in there."

"Hm." Arin said.

"We should probably be getting going." Dan said. "Got a new friend?" He asked.

Arin took a moment to realize Dan meant the Eevee. "I guess?" Arin said, unsure.

Arin and Liam got in, Liam taking advantage of the sixth seat that was in the vehicle, along with the convenient car seat that Dan had mustered up.

Dan pulled out of the parking lot, taking two lefts to get onto the drive that led to the road. To explore a little more for supplies, Dan turned right down Route 111, and was on his way.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross, Sylv)**

* * *

Barry and Ross had just left with a Sylveon slime, having learned about her and how this whole thing started. According to Sylv's stories, she was patient 6 or 7, if we go numerically up after patient 0. She had been like that for about two weeks now, and was sent by the owner of the newly founded state after the US government abandoned the area, Bernie, as she knew the area a bit better. She was worried about her new friends, Barry and Ross, as they went up the road, having sat in the back, by herself.

"So where to first?" Sylv asked. "We can leave this block, it's been manned so far."

"How about a perimeter search?" Barry asked.

Sylv was fine with this.

Barry began to drive down the major roads in the search area, starting with the crossroads. There were a set of schools down the up-down road, aptly titled Scholar Way.

"Should we stop at these?" Barry asked.

"I guess." Sylv said. They pulled over at the smallest of the three, for the smallest of the children. Despite the fact that this was, as a point of defense, rather okay, it was already overrun with slimes, noted by guard pups outside.

"I don't think that's a good idea to go in there." Ross said.

"I could ask up." Sylv said. "My Pokemon's not quite fluent, but I think I should be able to cover."

"If you want." Barry said. "Meet us at the middle school?"

Sylv nodded, opening the door, and closing it on the way out.

She padded off, on all fours, seeing what was going on in there.

 _"Hello."_ She said to the guard pups. _"Mind if I come in?"_

The pups barked, running in.

 _"Wait do I follow?"_ Sylv said, peering in, bumping into an Absol.

 _"Another slime?"_ The Absol said. _"I could have sworn we had everyone around here._ "

 _"Who are you?"_ Sylv asked. _"I'm looking for humans."_

 _"Why?"_ The Absol asked. _"Transformation or something?"_

 _"My clan's trying to build a human zoo."_ Sylv lied. _"Thought we'd get an Pacific variety."_

 _"You're not from around here?"_ The Absol asked.

 _"Dakota Labs"_ Sylv responded. While there was a Dakota Lab, it was merely a coincidental lie.

 _"Well there's that holdout."_ The Absol said. _"Nobody seems interested, so I guess you can take a look?"_

 _"Trade?"_ Sylv asked. _"Or is it just free?"_

 _"Well if you have anything, I guess we could take it."_ The Absol replied. _"But really we're giving it away."_

 _"So mind if I go in?"_ Sylv asked.

The Absol nodded, showing her the Human. It was a Californian, as promised. She was an older female, and didn't age all that well. Regardless, nobody seemed interested in an old lady teacher, and those that were had been beaten back by the old lady. Having Sylv explained that the slime she was retained her human speaking, to attempt to pacify humans. Absol, while angered at this spark of humanity in this slime, saw this as useful.

"Hello." Sylv said.

"Y-you..." The lady said. "Can talk..."

Sylv nodded. "Also, you're gonna come with me, if that's okay anyways."

"And what good would that do me?" The lady asked. "You seem nice and all, but I'm trying to not get transformed."

"Least youllve gotten out." Sylv explained. "And how do you know that I'm not going to not transform you?" Sylv remarked.

The lady conceded that point, though she wasn't happy with that.

* * *

 _About 20 minutes later..._

* * *

Having coaxed the camp of slimes, Sylv had gotten herself a fresh human! Though she was a bit old, she did still apparently have a punch left in her, someone to leave be for some time. The duo met up with Barry and Ross, who had also garnered themselves a small human tribe.

"Hey," Barry said, unsure of whether it was Sylv or not. Regardless, there still was the human.

"Hello." The duo said in unison. Sylv giggled a bit.

"Sylv?" Ross asked. "That you?"

Sylv nodded.

"Then Yo." Ross said. "We found this troop here. Buncha kids playing survival or something."

"Before we go in and show you, it'd probably be best to explain your catch." Barry said.

"Some teach I found." Sylv said. "She seemed to hold her own."

"Well that's good." Ross said. "We should probably take her back."

"Not yet." Sylv said. "We'll need all the manpower we can get for this group here you said. And also from what I've heard she'll be a valuable addition to the team."

The elder woman nodded. "I've fought a few of those... Things... In my time there."

"Should we go in?" Barry asked.

"Well why not?" The elder woman said. "We should get those little whippersnappers and show them... um..."

"Um?" Sylv asked.

"Give me a moment to think." The elder woman said.

"Show them how to rule a nation?" Barry asked.

"Just show them?" Ross asked.

"Why not?" Sylv said.

The elderly woman seemed a bit hesitant, but seemed to agree.

"Well that's that." Ross said. "Let's go!"

The four of them went inside, to see what they could find.

* * *

 **A/N: Probably going to introduce times for the POVs, as the Crimson Convoy is later on that the other two POVs.**


	6. The Investigation

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

* * *

 **POV: Crimson Convoy(Colin, Michelle, Greg, Alyssa, Brian, Suzy, Matt, Audrey[young], Emolga, Tyrone, Mariette, ?,?(Emolga's "friend"), George, Lizzy)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 5**

* * *

The Crimson Convoy had spend the night at Lost Hills, specifically it's eastern fortification. Colin had awakened early. He yawned.

"So what's this fort doing here anyways?" Colin said quietly, as to not disturb his roommates. Colin tiptoed to the door, slowly opening it.

The hallway was dark, as it wasn't 'morning' yet, for another thirty minutes about. Some of the lights were on, so the earliest of the early birds could still see where they're going.

Colin walked down the hall, and down the stairs.

Once he arrived, Colin noticed the two guards on duty, the receptionist napping on one of the waiting couches.

Colin decided to sit, turning a light on in the breakfast area, and deciding to read.

* * *

 _15 minutes later..._

* * *

Brian was awoken by Audrey, who decided to nudge him up.

"What is it girl?" Brian asked.

Audrey tugged on his pant leg.

"Want to go somewhere?" Brian asked.

Audrey nodded.

Brian ended up getting up, taking the young one along for a walk.

They eventually also ended up downstairs.

"Hey." Colin said.

"Oh hello." Brian said. "What brings you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Colin replied.

"Audrey wanted to go for a walk." Brian said.

"Ah." Colin said. "She like to do that?"

Brian nodded.

"So what now?" Colin asked.

"We're the leaders, so let's go see if we can meet the leader now." Brian said.

"That's an idea." Colin said.

Brian got up, asking the guards to see the leader now. They complied.

The trio, Brian, Colin, and Audrey, went to where the leader was staying.

* * *

 _Later..._

* * *

"Hello." The Leader said.

"Hello." Brian said. "You the leader?"

Colin remained silent for the moment. Aubrey made some non-coherent noise, being a borderline-toddler baby and all.

"Yes." The Leader said. "I'm Peter Arias."

"Well hello Peter." Colin said. "I'm Colin."

"I'm Brian." Brian said. "Brian Wecht. The little one's my daughter, Audrey."

"Nice to meet the three of you." Peter replied, smiling. "I see you had two slimes."

"Yes." Brian said. "One's tame, the other under watch by the tame one."

"Really?.." Peter said, intrigued. "Tamed?"

Brian nodded. "The squirrelly one anyways."

Peter seemed excited. "Could we have it?"

"No." Colin said. "It's mine."

"Really?" Peter asked.

Colin nodded. "It is." He said. "Picked it up myself."

"We did." Brian said. "Was in my vehicle anyways."

"Two of you both want it huh?" Peter asked.

Brian nodded.

"Well you're welcome to go further in when the rest of your group gets up." Peter said.

"Why thank you." Colin said. Brian nodded in agreement.

"You've got a large group set up." Peter noted.

"Thank you." Colin said.

"You're welcome." Peter said.

Brian, Colin, and Audrey were sent back to the hotel, to wait on the rest of their respective groups.

* * *

 _A few hours later..._

* * *

"You ready to go?" Colin asked the gathered up group.

A general consensus agreed, it being decided, Colin leading the group out to their vehicles, to go deeper into Lost Hills territory, due to the blessing of Peter, the leader.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Liam, Pidove, Glameow, Eevee)**

 **Time: Day 1, Hour 18**

* * *

Having just pulled down the road to explore a bit, having just picked up an Eevee and Liam, Dan proceeded to explain what had happened to Arin.

"So we were waiting outside." Dan said.

"Uh huh." Arin said, getting that.

"And we were waiting for you." Dan said.

"Uh huh." Arin said, getting that too.

"Then some slimes went at us, I got in, the slimes jumped in, but the kids didn't want to, so I drove off." Dan said.

"Ah." Arin said. "Well that sucks."

"Well, what do you think'll be here?" Dan asked.

Arin shrugged. Dan pulled into the next lot, containing a grocery store, and a few other businesses, including a rent-to-own place and a beauty place. Across the lot was a bank and a Denny's.

"Where to first?" Dan said.

"I'd say the grocery store." Arin said. "Will have more useful stuff."

The Eevee nodded.

"Fine then." Dan said. "There first."

They pulled up in a close spot, but not one of the handicap spots, in case any handicapped adventurers wanted to park there. You never know.

Arin got out, taking Liam with him, instructing Dan to keep watch of the trio of slimes, Dan complying.

* * *

 _A bit later..._

* * *

Arin and Liam walked in to the store, this time completely empty. There were some things still there, but the store was mostly picked dry, and was a mess.

"Should we look?" Arin asked Liam. Liam nodded.

Arin and Liam navigated the mostly looted store.

They first looked at the more navigable grocery section, where some small slimes were chewing on apples among other fruits.

Arin grabbed a melon and headed out of this section.

One of the smaller slimes, a little Wooper, began to hop along behind Liam. Neither of the humans noticed this.

The aisles were mostly knocked over, spare the bread, guarded by a lone small ekans.

Arin grabbed a few loaves, what being left were the obscure expensive ones. The Ekans objected, but didn't do anything, as they had the bread they needed.

"Interesting." Arin said. "Think these are bad?"

Liam shrugged.

Arin continued, his small following navigating the knocked over shelves, Wooper being nice and getting some stuff from under an aisle.

Arin eventually found an aisle that was visible, the other end of the store, frozen stuff that was mostly useless from being too warm. There was also the back area, populated with jams, jellies, and preserves. Arin, along with Liam, went down that way, as Wooper finally caught up.

The trio went along, grabbing the various unguarded jams, an Audino perusing the halls for similar jams. This one could talk too, calling out for help.

Arin was spooked. "Another human?" Arin said. "Who's there?"

"Sadly." the Audino said, Arin not seeing back. "No."

"How are you speaking like that then?" Arin asked.

The Audino sighed.

"You got a ride?" Arin asked. "Because we're full up."

"Yeah." Audino said. "It's in okay shape."

"Really?" Arin said. "We could use them, I seem like the damn pied piper to these slimes."

"Ah." Audino said, small tail flicking a bit out of excitement.

Liam went to see where this new being was, seeing Wooper. Wooper dashed, running into Audino.

"Oh hello!" Audino yelled.

 _"Oh no they've found me..._ _"_ Wooper said.

 _"Oh it's fine!"_ Audino said. _"You can come with me!"_

"You okay?" Arin said, noting the Pokemon talk.

"Oh I'm fine!" Audino said. "Little kid wants to come with!"

"Well if you're going to tag along." Arin said. "You take him."

"Let me translate." Audino said, proceeding to do so.

Wooper was excited by this.

Audino picked up the Wooper.

"So where are you?" Audino said.

"Me?" Arin spoke back. "You must be close, I don't have to yell."

Audino was then seen leaning in from the next aisle. She looked slightly overweight, but much fatter than the car slimes, both very thin.

"This little one was following you about." Audino said, holding up Wooper.

"Hi!" Liam yelled to Wooper.

Wooper tried imitating Liam, almost sounding human.

"Aw..." Audino said. "You're cute!"

 _"Thanks!"_ Wooper said to Audino.

"So um..." Arin said. "Shall we?"

"Sure." Audino said, redirecting her attention to Wooper. _"You're welcome."_

The quarter headed out, Arin having Audino introduce herself to Dan.

"Hey Arin." Dan said.

"Hello." Audino said. 'I'm Heather. Might change that later. Not sure. Call me Audino if you want."

"Well Heather." Dan said. "I'm Dan, those in the back we don't quite have their names."

"Oh, I could ask." Audino noted. "Want me to?"

Dan nodded.

 _"Who might you be?_ " Audino asked the slimes in the back. The Eevee was the only one to respond with a name.

 _"I'm Emmy!"_ The Eevee yelled.

"The Eevee's Emmy." Audino said.

"Nice to meet you Emmy." Dan said. "Again I guess."

Emmy barked.

"What was that?" Arin asked.

"Just a bark." Audino said. "She's happy to be heard."

Emmy nodded. _"You're coming with us right?"_ She asked Audino.

 _"Yes. I am."_ Audino said to Emmy.

Emmy barked quite loudly.

Glameow flattened her ears, growling.

 _"Calm down..."_ Audino said to the trio.

Glameow made a grunting noise, crossing her arms.

Audino held up Wooper, showing them to Dan.

"He's coming with too." Audino said.

 _"Yeah!_ " Wooper said.

"Nice to meet you little one." Dan said.

Audino went to her car, putting the little slime in the back.

"Where to next?" Audino asked Arin, shouting from behind him, having drove up.

"The rent-to-own place might have some communicators of some sort." Dan told Arin.

Arin yelled for Audino to follow him.

Audino did so.

* * *

 _A few minutes later..._

* * *

"We're here." Dan said.

Arin got out, Dan stayed guard again. Audino hopped out, taking Wooper to go see the trio that was with Dan.

 _"Hi!"_ Wooper said to Emmy.

 _"Hello!"_ Emmy said to Wooper.

 _"What are you anyways._ " Glameow asked.

 _"I don't know..."_ Wooper said.

 _"You look like one of those Mexican Salamanders._ " Pidove noted.

Emmy nodded.

Wooper seemed curious. " _What's that?_ " He asked.

Emmy tried to explain Axolotls to Wooper.

Wooper was excited by this. _"That sounds pretty cool!_ "

 _"They are._ " Pidove said.

 _"Rare too._ " Glameow noted.

Emmy smiled.

"You guys having fun back there?" Dan asked. Emmy barked happily.

Glameow seemed less enthusiastic about her noises to Dan, but they no longer sounded angry.

"Well that's a good sign!" Dan said.

Emmy nodded.

 _"So what do we do when we get them out of here anyways?"_ Glameow asked Pidove.

Pidove shrugged.

 _"Should we leave them be?"_ Glameow asked.

 _"Probably."_ Pidove said.

 _"You're going to leave?"_ Emmy asked.

Glameow nodded.

 _"We're just helping them on their way. You're welcome to stay if you wish._ ' Pidove said.

 _"Well okay!"_ Emmy said. _"You with me little guy?"_

Wooper nodded.

Dan twiddled his thumbs.

"So uh..." Dan said. "Want to listen to some music?" Dan looked back to garner a response. Glameow shrugged, Pidove didn't respond, and Emmy nodded.

Dan turned on the radio, penning through the stations. Little were playing music, if they were even on.

He eventually found a classical station, playing some baroque material. "Sorry." Dan said. "It's all I can find."

Glameow and Pidove were fine with this. Emmy whimpered a bit, but understood.

Dan questioned the anthros until Arin returned, them being unable to talk limiting it from being a full conversation.

"Where's the new girl?" Dan asked.

"She found an electrical thing." Arin said.

"And that does?" Dan asked.

"She's getting them programmed essentially." Arin said.

"Really." Dan said. "What will that do?"

"I was told it'd pair the frequencies of the walkie talkies so they'd connect. I heard they're good ones too. Should be able to get a few miles out of them." Arin replied.

"Really?" Dan said, more intrigued.

"Yeah." Arin said. "She also said something like 'they'll get 10 in the desert nowhere-lands'"

"Huh." Dan said. "Must be big. Walkie talkies as a kid only got like 100 feet at best."

Emmy nodded. Pretty soon, Heather, the Audino, came out, the being that had tinkered with the walkie talkies waving, then taking a glare at Arin and Dan. The slime paused, before going about his business in the store.

"They generally don't like humans." Audino replied. "You got lucky with this trio." She proceeded to get Wooper. "Time to go little guy." She said.

"So you'll be following us?" Arin asked.

Audino nodded.

"Well we'll be heading out, unless you know of any good spots to look." Arin said.

"You got room in your vehicle?" Audino asked.

"Why?" Dan asked.

"I've got stuff back home I haven't packed. And since I'm one of these, it's not like I need to rush." Audino noted.

"That's fine Heather." Arin said. "Just lead the way."

"Got gas too." Audino said. "We could keep that with us."

Arin saw that as a good idea. The duo of cars drove off, off to the Audino's residence.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross, Sylv)**

 **Time: Day 1, Hour 15**

* * *

Barry, Ross, and Sylv, along with the teacher they had picked up, had gone inside the middle school to scout out things. Walking down the halls, Sylv's nose picked up on something, her head leaning up a bit as more of a force of habit thing than anything else.

"I think I smell something." Sylv said to transmit this to the rest of the party.

"What?" The teacher asked.

"Human probably." Sylv noted, tail twitching a bit.

"Hey kid." Ross said, noticing the twitching right away. "That thing supposed to be moving like that?"

"Sometimes..." Sylv said, slightly embarrassed, taking a deep breath. "Just something to keep the feral instincts at bay."

"Fine enough." Ross replied.

Sylv nodded, and proceeded to slowly walk towards the source of the scent. The others followed.

They soon came to a door, where Sylv stopped.

"Here." She said.

"Here then." The teacher replied..

Sylv knocked on the door, rushing off as to not reveal herself.

"You three answer." Sylv said.

"Why?" The teacher asked.

"They're not gonna like seeing me first, probably not at all." Sylv replied.

"Right..." The teacher replied.

The small group of young males answered the door, opening it a crack

"Who are you?!" One voice yelled.

Another young boy peered out, brown short hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. "Hello."

"Hey." Ross said.

"A human." The young male said.

"A human?" Another voice said, this time feminine.

"Yes." The male said.

An older, pubescent male opened the door. "You got any of those things?"

"What things? The slimes?" Ross asked.

"You know what they are?" The feminine voice said.

"Yes?" Ross said. "Why?"

"Well we don't like 'em!" the first male said.

"Yes. We would like to stay human." The boy peering out said.

"Well she's tame." Ross said.

The boy peered towards Sylv. "Really..." He said, doubtful.

Ross nodded.

"Fine. _You_ can come in." The boy said, trying to mean just Ross.

"Me?" The group asked in unison.

"The one that tamed the thing." The boy said.

"Me?" Ross asked.

"Yes." The boy said. "You go in."

"Just me?" Ross asked. "Why?"

"Because." The boy said. "The others might be infected."

"And why not me?" Ross asked.

"You're the farthest." The boy said.

"And what difference would that make?" Ross asked.

"You can come in before the others." The boy said.

"Why?" Ross asked.

"Because we have a door and that thing might be aggressive." The boy said.

Sylv growled in annoyance.

"See." The boy said.

"That was more annoyed than angry." Barry noted.

Ross nodded.

"Fine." The boy said. "One of you has to watch the slime. I'm not letting her in."

Sylv sighed.

"That fine?" Ross asked his group.

Barry nodded, the teacher volunteering to keep watch.

* * *

 _A bit later..._

* * *

"So you guys will send a person back to Bernie's?" Barry said.

"Simply for the diplomatic introduction." The boy that had seemed more eloquent than the others, Edward, said.

"Fine enough." Ross said.

There was then was a knock on the door.

"Who is it now!" The one boy yelled.

"The slime from earlier." Sylv said.

"Again?" Edward said.

"Teach bailed." Sylv noted. "You ready to go?"

"Just about." Ross said loudly in order for Sylv to hear.

Sylv waited, Ross coming out eventually, along with Barry and Edward.

"One of the kids huh?" Sylv noted.

"Yes." Edward said. "Diplomatic Envoy."

Sylv tilted her head.

"You know what that means, don't you?" Edward asked.

"Yeah." Sylv said. "But you seem like a tribal group. Wasn't expecting a formal envoy."

"That's to be expected." Edward replied. "Shall we?"

Ross nodded, leading the pack of four on their way back.

* * *

 **A/N: Gonna install guides on recruitment for these, which will be followed generally for the rest of the story unless something changes**

 **Crimson Convoy: Mostly human recruitment, feral slimes that are made pets are put along.**

 **Game Grumps: Arin serves as a slime Pied Piper, most will be slime, mostly not feral but unable to speak.**

 **Barry and Ross: Little to no recruitment, mixed bag for what they do bring along.**


	7. The Preparations

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

* * *

 **POV: Crimson Convoy(Colin, Michelle, Greg, Alyssa, Brian, Suzy, Matt, Audrey[young], Emolga, Tyrone, Mariette, ?,?(Emolga's "friend"), George, Lizzy)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 6**

* * *

The Crimson Convoy had just arrived in Lost Hills, the central residential bit of it. Allyssa and Matt had stuck behind to keep an eye on the slimes, keeping one vehicle.

Colin's vehicle was slightly further ahead than Brian's, followed by George, than Lizzy's.

"Town looks nice." Colin noted.

"Well enough." Greg noted.

"Yeah..." Suzy replied.

"So where to first?" Brian asked.

"Well a store probably." Colin said. "Check on supplies."

"Fine enough." Brian said.

The quartet of vehicles made their way to the market in the center of town.

Colin and Brian went out to see what was in there.

"Could I come?" Lizzy asked.

"Sure." Colin said.

The trio went to the backs of their vehicles, Colin penning down what they had. They then went in.

"So." Brian said. "What do we need?"

"Water mostly." Colin said. "Few snacks maybe."

"Okay." Brian said.

The trio went along and grabbed what they needed, and went to pay for it, giving it was still a civilized population.

The man at the counter explained that their money would soon no longer be accepted in the Lost Hills central area. Soon as it was finished minting, some paper money representing the nation that resided here would be put to legal tender, as one less reminder to the state they once knew.

"This quick?" Colin asked.

The man at the counter nodded.

"Got anything for us to do here?" Colin asked.

"Well actually." The man said, voice deep and booming. "There's one thing."

"What is it?" Colin asked.

"We're going on a assessment of the Southern Border." The man replied.

"And?" Brian asked.

"We need more people." The man replied.

"And we could be of use." Lizzy noted.

The man nodded, putting on a bit of a grin.

"Yeah..." Brian said.

The trio went back to their vehicles to run it by the rest of the group. Suzy and Tyrone objected, but overall the group agreed.

"Well let's go." Colin said. "You two can stay here for now."

George also decided to stick around, in case things didn't go too well, as the trio could go in his truck. The group also kept watch on Audrey.

* * *

 _A bit later..._

* * *

The group, Colin, Michelle, Greg, Brian, Mariette, and Lizzy, had arrived at the southern border of Lost Hills. They were directed to the fort leader.

"You the group?" The leader asked. She was an elderly woman, looking very good for their age, better at tactics than actually fighting. This was the reason for the leadership role. She had a very light gray for hair, not quite white yet. She had a bit of a tan as well. She was wearing a suit coat, but seeming a more comfortable one, with a long skirt, and an undershirt. She was wearing flat shoes, however.

Colin nodded.

"You brought a little one?" The leader asked Brian. Brian nodded.

"I've got to keep an eye on her." He responded.

The leader seemed to object to this, but not enough to say anything.

"Anyways." The leader says. "Who might all of you be?"

Colin and Brian both presented themselves as leader.

"Hm..." The leader noted. "Infighting?"

"Recent merger." Colin said. Brian agreed.

"Interesting." The leader noted. "So what are your two names?"

Colin and Brian introduced themselves.

"Nice to meet you two." The leader replied. "I'm Emily."

"Nice to meet you Emily." Colin said. Brian wanted to say it first, groaning a bit.

"Anyways." Emily said. "Let's go over the basics. These things appear to be semi-bulletproof, but don't like water all that much. The leaders seem a bit less resistant to the water."

"Semi-bulletproof?" Brian asked.

"Yes." Emily replied. "It appears they have a soft, squishy outside that has no negative reaction to being shot, but there's a hard bit in the middle that doesn't like it."

"Interesting..." Brian said.

"The leaders have more of the squishy outside." Emily replied.

The two leaders took note.

"They're harder to get because of it." Emily said.

"What if they become all goopy?" Lizzy asked.

Emily seemed unsure. "Well I'll leave you to it. how long you plan to stay?"

"Today-ish." Brian said. "WE've gotta head north."

"There won't be anything." Emily said. "We're sending scouts, there isn't really isn't much in the immediate area."

"We were thinking Canada." Colin said.

"Maybe." Emily noted. Lost Hills was quick to give up hope since the Slimes came so quickly.

"Any of you staying longer?" Emily asked.

Lizzy paused for a moment. "Maybe me and the Frenchwoman, but I think the other two are groups that intend to go farther north."

"good enough. Any new recruits are good. We're on the interstate, and we're sending out people to paint the signs to point out that we're alive." Emily replied.

"Really?" Brian asked.

Lizzy nodded. "It's your quest, not ours. Plus, the city could use a car."

Emily stated that they didn't really need it, but yeah, anything's good when you're off the grid.

Brian shrugged, having no real attachment to any of these newbies.

"That's fine if you really want to." Colin said.

"Well fine enough." Emily said.

Lizzy nodded.

"Actually..." Brian said. "Emolga seemed to like the frenchwoman. Maybe George can stay if Tyrone can drive?"

"Well let's check on that first." Colin said. "Then we'll make a decision. If he says yes, Lizzy can just keep her vehicle here, and then we'll head off."

"That's fine." Emily replied. "But that's after the evening, right?"

"Well Michelle could go and ask." Colin noted. Brian agreed.

"Well then you two sort that out and then we'll talk further." Emily said.

Michelle went to go up and ask. About an hour later, she came back, announcing that the deal could be made, though that Tyrone would not want to be alone in the vehicle. Colin seemed to reasonably understand.

"Well is that all before we defend here?" Brian asked.

"If that's all you need, then let's analyse the southern area." Emily noted.

"Fine enough." Brian replied, deciding to take

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Liam, Pidove, Glameow, Emmy(Eevee), Heather(Audino), Wooper)**

 **Time: Day 1, Hour 19**

* * *

The two groups had arrived at Heather, the Audino's place.

Audino parked her car in the driveway, getting out to go next to Arin and Dan's car, which was parked on the curb.

"You want to go in?" Audino said.

Dan nodded. He was getting tired of sitting down.

"Okay then." Audino said. "Follow me."

Dan got up, nearly stumbling. He had been seated for the better part of a few hours now.

Audino went to reach out to help him up, but pulled her arm back.

"Better not do that." Audino said. "Don't want to accidentally transform you."

Dan got up, agreeing. "So touching a human transforms them?"

"So long as you're still all goopy like me." Audino said. "I'm not as drippy as I was earlier though. Happened to be over near ground zero when this all happened, been hiding out until this evac started."

"Ah." Dan said. "Interesting."

"Let kids go with dad." Audino said. "Never found out about this."

"Poor thing." Dan said. "Anyways, anything here you want me to get?"

"Yeah." Audino said. "Grab those oil cans."

Dan followed the orders, grabbing the oil cans. They were heavy.

"One thing I haven't touched, so you can take them." Audino said. "Careful not to step in any of these puddles once we actually go in."

Dan nodded, taking the oil cans to the curb, before returning to Audino.

"Now what?" He asked.

"Want a tour?" Audino asked.

"Sure." Dan said.

Audino went to take him on a tour of the house, careful not to transform Dan accidentally. She had him carry a few things towards the door. She started in the kitchen.

"That's a kitchen." Dan noted.

Audino nodded.

"It's quaint." Audino said. "But it's fine."

Dan seemed to understand.

"So where to next?" Audino asked.

Dan wandered down the hall, running into the study to his left, and bathroom to the right. The bathroom was very well kept, clean white with the exception of the colored trim and slime that Heather had left about.

"Hm." Dan said.

"Yeah." Audino said. "Haven't really needed to use that much since I turned like this..."

"Interesting." Dan noted.

"Insides just feel kinda goopy." Audino noted. "Think it's a side effect of this whole transformation thing."

Heather soon checked the study for anything, picking up a few knickknacks, and a burner phone, along with a portable battery. The study had carpet, in a dark jade color, with wooden trim, and a ceiling to match the carpet. There were a few bookshelves, with books on them, along with a desk with a computer on it. The computer seemed somewhat old. Probably a early-mid 2010's one.

"This room huh." Dan said, as if he knew more about it.

"Yeah." Audino noted. "It's my favorite."

Dan grinned. "Really?"

Audino nodded. "Um..." She said, unsure of what to do next. "Let's keep going."

"That's fine." Dan said. "Where to next?"

Audino seemed flustered.

"Something wrong Heather?" Dan asked.

"Oh no," Audino replied. "I'm fine."

"Okay?" Dan said, slightly confused.

"Anyways, let's go." Audino said.

Dan followed to Heather's Bedroom. It had more of the slime than the other rooms. It wasn't all that out of place design-wise, the room being mostly creamy whites and dark browns, the pink shade of an Audino not seeming out of place as much. The bed, with an actual frame and wood things on the ends, was designed with different sheets than originally intended, black with green biohazard symbols after it. Dan thought that they probably mean the radioactive symbol, but had the wrong one. Maybe they were discounted for this reason.

"This your room?" Dan said before Audino could introduce the room.

"Yeah." Audino replied.

"It looks nice, kinda." Dan said. Audino sighed/laughed.

"Yeah...' Audino replied, fainter.

"Hm?" Dan said.

"Oh nothing..." Audino said.

"You seem upset." Dan replied.

"Well you try being like this..." Audino replied.

"Okay, there's that," Dan replied to the reply. "But what else? That doesn't seem like all."

"Oh nothing else..." Audino replied.

"That doesn't sound like nothing Heather." Dan said, insisting.

"I don't want to talk about it." Audino said, more seriously. Dan backed off on that.

"What else might there be?" Dan asked, Audino having stopped.

"Well that's about it that isn't too covered in slime." Audino noted.

"Slime?" Dan asked, wanting her perspective.

"That's what the gooey thing that I am is called." Audino noted.

Dan seemed interested. "Well should we head out then?" He asked. Audino nodded, letting Dan lead, but instructing him.

"You've got kind of a nice place. Might've been pretty before..." Dan paused as to try and not offend the slime.

"I think it was a quaint little place. Me, my honey, and my kids..." The Audino began to tear a bit.

"Oh it's okay..." Dan said, nearly touching her to reassure her. "We're there for you, for now at least!"

"Well..." Audino replied. "It's not too important. Let's get you guys somewhere safer for humans."

"You sure?" Dan asked.

Audino nodded, sniffling.

"Well if you insist..." Dan said, re-entering his and Arin's vehicle.

"Well should we head east then?" Arin asked.

"Yeah." Dan replied, asking if the Audino could tag along. Arin reluctantly agreed.

Dan shared the good news outside the vehicle, then getting back in to go.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross, Sylv, Edward)**

 **Time: Day 1, Hour 16**

* * *

Barry, Ross, and Sylv, along with the diplomatic envoy they had recruited, had returned to Bernie's place.

"You finished already?" Bernie asked.

"Found a group." Sylv said. "Bunch of kids."

Edward nodded.

"This one's the most eloquent of the bunch." Sylv said.

"We go by the Newmark Tribe." Edward noted. "Not my idea."

"What was yours?" Bernie asked. "I can put it on my map."

"I was going to say Redwood Village." Edward said.

"Well it's going to be my territory at some point." Bernie said. "If we stay abandoned, that is. We can call it that if it's still around when we get to that."

Edward smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Bernie replied kindly.

"So um..." Sylv said. "What do we do with the Newmarks?"

Bernie paused. "I'll think about it."

"Okay." Edward and Sylv said in unison. "Thanks." Edward said alone.

"So should we head back out?" Ross asked.

Sylv nodded, heading out.

* * *

 _30 minutes later..._

* * *

The group had returned to the school, returning to the previous clan.

The clan had captured a different clans member.

"Who's that?" Edward asked.

"We got one of the Clanricardes!" One of the boys said.

"The Clanricardes?" Sylv and Edward said in unison, but for different reasons.

"Shall I explain?" Edward asked.

Ross nodded.

"We're not the only faction about in the school." Edward said. "There's boy 'clans', girl 'nations', and co-ed 'federations'. The Clanricardes were one of our main rivals for the first few hours."

"Hm." Ross said.

One of the boys explained how this happened.

"Who's that?" Barry asked.

"Justin, my protege." Edward said. "He's just about ready. I might let him settle this matter."

Ross looked at the boy. The boy looked back.

"You want to come with us?" Ross asked. "You're clearly unsupervised anyways, and we could use you for diplomacy purposes."

 _"Or as bait._ " Ross thought. Edward seemed worried about that offer.

"You sure I would be ready to leave them behind?" Edward said.

"That _would_ be your worry." Sylv muttered.

"Try Justin out here." Ross said. "That way, you'll know."

"Really?" Edward said, more excited.

Ross nodded.

Sylv waited.

Edward sent Justin along to discuss the issue with the Clanricardes, the quintet walking out of the door.

"So um...' Sylv said. "What _are_ we going to do with him after this?"

"Well we can take him back to the one place, or take him with the two of us up north." Barry replied.

"I'd prefer not to be in the trunk forever if I'm going for a while." Sylv said.

"We can get another vehicle." Ross said. "Most likely anyways."

"Fine." Sylv said. "If you can get another vehicle, a van or other three-row, or even a crossover, I'd be fine letting him come along."

Edward seemed excited. He didn't really like the nature of the clans, and his type tend to die first when boys are left to themselves.

The group began to walk towards the other groups, Edward leading the way.

* * *

 **A/N: Think I'm gonna leave the analysis of the towns and stuff south of Lost Hills to Chapter 8, since this is about average length and it's been a while since I've posted anything.**


	8. The Visitation

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

* * *

 **POV: Crimson Convoy(Colin, Michelle, Greg, Alyssa, Brian, Suzy, Matt, Audrey[young], Emolga, Tyrone, Mariette, ?,?(Emolga's "friend"), George(set to be left at Lost Hills), Lizzy(set to be left at Lost Hills))**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 7**

* * *

Colin, Michelle, Greg, Brian, Mariette, and Lizzy were all with a guard from Lost Hills, named Emily. The group was wanting to see what was to the south, seeing if there were any strongholds to be held by Slimes.

"Ready to go?" Emily, the elderly main guard of the southern point, asked.

"Yes." Brian replied, Colin agreeing.

"Let's go." Emily said calmly, starting the group, leaving Greg, Michelle, and Mariette to guard.

They started down Lost Hills Road, wondering what was going to be encountered. The first few miles were relatively quiet, a slime or two wandering about, dipping in and out of the half-planted sets of fields. One tried to engage, but they managed to get it to go away with a few water balloons when it got close. Eventually they arrived in Missouri Triangle, a town that appeared to be set up, but with little to no housing actually in the town. Emily got out at the similarly named shop there, inviting the rest out to explore it.

"Do we really need this many to go in there?" Colin asked.

"Well you never split up." Emily said. "That's how you die."

"There's enough of us though where a half wouldn't make too big of a difference." Colin replied. Emily seemed disinterested in that opinion.

"Well can't you just go in there?" Colin asked.

Brian offered to go in, leaving Colin and Lizzy outside.

There was little to be seen on the inside. It was merely a little stopping place, with a few snack and beverages, along with knick-knacks relating to the area, and brochures for nearby attractions. The power was still on, notably. There appeared to have _been_ a slime there at one point, but it didn't seem to be there now. However, an adolescent Fletchling was hiding, as scared as the humans as the humans would be of it. She couldn't speak, much as she tried, but might be able to operate the shop to ferals.

"The lights are still on." Brian noted. "Someone should still be around."

"Noted." Emily said. "Why'd you bring it up?"

"Maybe we shouldn't be stealing from here? It seems... Still in operation?"

"From who?' Emily asked.

"Maybe someone who's allied to those... things?" Brian asked.

"Who would be able to do that?" Emily asked.

"I don't know, but maybe they operate the shop in exchange as a refresh-type place for the slimes? I see there's at least one that's been here. Including on the counter there."

Emily seemed suspicious. "It doesn't seem that fresh, but I think we should just leave, maybe take a few brochures for areas to scout."

Brian nodded, though he did grab a bottle of water, leaving a few bits of change as the duo walked out the door with nearby locations to explore for Lost Hills. Unbeknownst to them, the Fletchling actually put the change away once they had left.

"I hope whoever was there was okay." Brian noted.

"Doubtful." Emily replied. She seemed very pessimistic about 'surviving' humans.

"I'll have faith." Brian said.

"See. We're still here." Colin said to Emily.

"Who's there?" Lizzy asked.

"We don't know." Brian said, Emily sighed at Colin's response.

"Well shall we?" Colin asked.

"Fine." Emily noted, telling the others to get in the vehicle, which they did, off to the next town down, turning on a state route to get there. This took about 15 minutes, before coming to a town called McKittrick, also next-to-unpopulated, but much denser than the previous town.

"Shall we explore this one?" Colin asked. Emily nodded, inviting everyone out this time, which the group did. Little did they know, the seemingly empty town was not as empty as they might have thought.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Liam, Pidove, Glameow, Emmy(Eevee), Heather(Audino), Wooper)**

 **Time: Day 1, Hour 19**

 **A/N: The horizontal lines seem to be glitching a bit so this line of text is here**

* * *

Arin and Dan had accepted the Audino, Heather, into the group, giving them room for the Wooper they recruited earlier on. Heather appeared to have been a slime longer than the other slimes around, and was more slimy than the others, but appeared to control the dripping slightly better.

"So where do you think we'll head?" Dan asked Arin.

"East, but first probably I'll just take this road." Arin replied, referencing Van Buren Street, as the busier roads would be stuck.

"Oh hey just to remind you we made the radio connection work." Heather said over their communications.

"Oh that's useful!" Dan commented.

The Audino smiled. "How long do you think it'll take to get out of here?" She asked over the comms.

"Maybe the next day." Arin replied.

"What do you think we'll do when we're there?" The Audino replied.

"Really I have no idea. Who knows if it'll even be there when we get there." Arin replied to the reply.

Dan offered that they just keep going east, and leave what'll happen to then. Arin seemed to approve.

Emmy seemed excited. They were going somewhere!

"Hey Emmy?" Arin asked, Emmy barking happily. "You okay there? You seem kinda all waggy."

"She's probably happy about something." Dan replied. "No idea what though."

"Fine enough." Arin replied.

"Well shall we?" Dan asked.

Emmy nodded in agreement, letting out a bark-like noise.

Arin nodded, beginning to drive off.

Once they reached dirt tracks, the slimes began to jiggle from the bumpiness some.

* * *

 **An hour later...**

* * *

Pidove handed forward a note, asking if they were there yet.

"Nearly if the maps are serving me right." Arin said.

"Aren't these restricted use?" Dan asked.

"Yeah, but it's one of those 'there's no government left and the interstate is a mess' things." Arin replied. "It's bad but it's like an okay bad. It's not like killing puppies or anything."

Dan still seemed worried. They had within a few minutes came to a rest stop, seemingly looted. They decided to stop there, since it was an easy look at the interstate, which as a lot less packed as it was in the city.

"What do you think? Keep going on these backroads or get on now?" Arin asked. The slimes seemed unsure about getting on the main road, Pidove writing that more hostile beings may go on that road, and that they should fall behind the main advancement.

"I mean I guess you'll know them better." Arin said reading the note. "Giving that you _are_ one."

The Pidove nodded.

"Let's tell Heather that." Dan said.

"Well the radio's right there." Arin noted, asking Dan to do it.

"Well if that's what you want, you're the lead vehicle." Heather noted once she got the message. She seemed confused on continuing the sand tracks though. The vehicles weren't the best for it, but they could navigate it. The group probably spent around 30 or 40 minutes on these tracks, before coming to pavement. The slimes seemed to like that, as to not be jiggled as much. Being on a paved road also increased their speed immensely, managing highway speeds for the first time on their journey in quite a while. This road also led to Interstate 10, but slightly less packed on the eastbound side. Continuing down the road they found, they turned on a sand-covered paved road, which slowed them down. However, it was a lot shorter than the original track they had been on north of the interstate. The group then realized the road they ended up on they could have turned on earlier, maybe saving them some time. This road was called Pinto Road, and they took it for a few minutes, eventually ending up at a trailer-park with some houses mixed in. There was also a gas station, with a small restaurant/gas station store place, which offered ATV and Jeep tours pre-evac. This is where Arin and Dan decided to stop for now, as the place was right by the next interstate exit.

"Why'd we stop?" Heather asked over the comms.

"Well I just thought we could see what's here." Arin said. "Maybe see if there's gas left."

"There does seem to be a line..." Heather noted. "Wonder if anyone's left in those cars..."

"I mean we could check?" Dan asked, unsure of whether they should or not.

The group decided to drive around, scanning for anyone left in the line. On the last car, they discovered someone already getting gas, though they hid after seeing the group. Arin and Dan debated saying hi, but the person was more likely to operate defensively, so they just parked at the store, and went inside.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross, Sylv, Edward)**

 **Time: Day 1, Hour 20**

 **have this**

* * *

Barry, Ross, and Sylv, had just agreed to send Edward along with them, but first they would have to go about and make sure that everyone else was fine. They had been looking for a few hours now, having gone to and fro a bit for spatial reasons.

"We're at the last couple of places now." Sylv commented.

Edward was now getting over the initial fears of having Sylv so close in the vehicle, though Sylv was slightly more annoyed of having to be in the trunk.

"We need to get a bigger trunk." Sylv said, annoyed.

"Yes, you've said this." Ross commented.

"So will you at some point?" Sylv asked.

"If possible I suppose." Barry replied.

Edward expressed concern at letting the Sylveon be connected without a firm barrier to the rest of them.

"You try being half melted in here." Sylv replied to that concern. "Its not fun. I can't melt all the way yet."

"You could do that?" Edward asked.

"Well once I melt fully." Sylv replied. "Something with the whole host thing."

Edward thought for a bit. "will that happen to the rest of them?"

"Likely." Sylv replied to that. "Though I was infected so early it may have mutated since."

Edward shrugged.

"A possibility I guess." Ross replied. "Well we did find a few people to recruit, who seemed worried at our current situation."

Slyv seemed annoyed with them.

"They don't know you. Far as they know you're just like the rest of them." Ross noted.

Sylv was still annoyed, but agreed. She sighed. "Fine. For _now_ I'll stay like this."

Edward seemed relieved. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome.' Sylv said as if she was forced to.

The group continued driving to their last location to directly check with, one of Bernie's prepper friends. Ross got out first, letting out Sylv. "Want to keep an eye on Edward?" Ross asked Barry, as Edward seemed uneasy around the Sylveon, though he did have to repeat himself in closer proximity.

"Yeah, sure." Barry said after hearing him the second time. Ross and Sylv went to the door, Ross leading as to not scare the possible person _quite_ as much. He knocked on the door.

"Oh coming!" An elderly voice said.

"Oh good." Ross noted, hearing a human voice. The door then opened, revealing an old man, who had yet to notice the Sylveon. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"A man named Bernie sent us." Sylv said. "He said you were one of his."

The man peered at Sylv, unsure of how to respond, pausing for a second. "Well golly gee!.. I've never seen one talk before!"

"Yup. One of a kind." Sylv said, though another did exist on the other side of LA.

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle." The man said. "I'm Joshua, come in. Who might you be?" He said, entering the house. Ross and Sylv followed. "And watch your feet sir. The others aren't housetrained yet."

"House trained?" Sylv asked.

"Oh don't worry little pup." Joshua said. "We're working on it."

"I've got feet too ya know.' Sylv replied.

"Don't stress." Joshua said with a wink. "It's a little different than you think."

"Well I'm Ross." Ross introduced himself. "I've got two more outside, do you want me to invite them in?"

"Well why'd they stay?" Joshua asked.

"The little kid we recruited is scared of me." Sylv noted.

"Oh how come?" Joshua asked. "You're tame enough."

"Well it's probably something along the lines of teachers getting infected. We got him out of a Lord of the Flies type situation unfolded."

"Well he's safe now." Joshua said warmly. "Would you like some refreshments?"

Ross nodded. Sylv responded with a "Sure, why not?." This spawned Joshua to run off to the kitchen, offering Ross to take a seat while they wait. Sylv sat with legs crossed.

"He seems nice." Sylv said.

"Yeah. Wonder when we'll see those pets." Ross replied.

After a few minutes, Joshua came back with a dog treat, a glass of iced tea, and a few butterscotch candies, serving the tea to Ross.

"Your girl know tricks?" Joshua asked.

"Tricks?" Ross asked back. "She's Bernie's. Well Bernie said she can tag along with us now, but you know what I mean."

"Bernie might have not had time to teach her anything." Joshua said, tossing the treat in the air to see what would happen. Sylv, in another feral slip, leaped to grab the treat. She landed with a blush.

"Please don't do that again..." She said half-angry and half-embarrassed.

"Aw come on..." Joshua reply. "You seemed to like it."

"Please..." Sylv said, really not liking her feral slips too much.

"What is it? Not well adjusting to your new self? Just transformed?" Joshua asked, getting down to her eye-level.

Sylv whimpered a bit.

"Oh you poor thing." Joshua offered another treat, giving how excited she was about it the first time. Taking it seemed to cheer her up momentarily, but didn't seem to last.

"She doesn't seem to like her canine self from what I've heard." Ross commented.

"Oh.' Joshua noted. "Well then. Sorry about that then dear. You still seem to like the treats though, don't you?"

"I mean..." Sylv said. "I guess... Or at least that whole feral complex does."

"I've never seen one that can speak though..." Joshua noted.

"You said that already." Sylv said, less sad than before.

"Sometimes I do that." Joshua said. "Age-related quirk and all."

Ross shrugged.

"So would you like to come back to Bernie's?" He asked. Joshua said no.

"May I ask why?" Sylv asked Joshua.

"Well my pets are here!" Joshua responded. "Many of them are still too sad to do too much, and moving wouldn't be good for them."

"Pets?" Sylv asked.

"Oh yes, want me to show them to you?" Joshua asked, forgetting to ask just Sylv. Ross and Sylv both seemed up to it, and now that he had forgotten to ask specifically, Joshua decided to just let Ross come along too, as it would be rude to invite and then take away the invite, as opposed to not inviting at all. The duo walked into the kitchen. Inside was a birdcage with a Pikipek in it, this time actually the size of the bird.

"A slime bird?" Sylv asked.

"Yes. This one followed me home one day on a walk. Seems to like me." Joshua replied.

"I didn't know it could infect animals." Sylv noted.

"It does occasionally." Joshua replied. "Not often though. Most leave them alone, preferring human hosts, such as you were at one point."

Ross peered closer at the bird, which made noises at him.

"It's a lot harder to clean up after though." Joshua said. "Can't actually touch the slime after all."

"So that still applies as a non-human?" Ross asked.

"Yes, very." Joshua replied. "I've got a few more to show you if you want."

"Sure." Ross replied, as the two were guided into Joshua's personal living room, different than the entrance room. Inside was a cat tree, with two feline Pokemon on it, both Skitties. They looked feral as they were up there on the tree. A young girl, who was actually a playful Zoura using an illusion watched them from the couch.

"Oh another human?" Ross asked. Joshua commented that there hadn't been another human here besides the two of them in a few days.

The 'Girl' jumped Sylv, giving her a big hug. This freaked the Sylveon out, before the 'girl' giggled, dispersing the illusion.

"Oh you little-" Sylv said angrily, before being interrupted by Joshua.

"Oh Caroline, you can't do that... People will freak out, thinking you're getting infected." Joshua responded.

The same giggle came out of the Zoura. Ross found it mildly cute. Sylv thought otherwise, of course.

"Well at least it wasn't you." Joshua said of Ross. "That would have been a problem."

Caroline laid down at the base of the tree, being much too big to be up on the platforms.

"Why are they so small?" Ross asked. "Cats? Small dogs?"

"Actually..." Joshua said. "The two pups up there were babies. Caroline seemed to be trying to take care of them, so I took the three of them in, giving how small even Caroline there seemed."

Sylv took a look at the pair, being quiet due to the fact they were seemingly sleeping. "They're... Kinda cute." Sylv said.

"They've essentially been born like that.' Joshua said. "A bit sad, but we can always teach them how to be human. Hopefully."

"Yeah. Hopefully." Ross responded. "Well anyways, thanks for the drink, we should be heading out. Anything you want to say to Bernie?"

"Tell him I said hi." Joshua replied. "And tell him if he ever wants a replacement pet, to come to me."

"Noted." Ross said. Sylv took mild offense at being called a pet, but said nothing. The duo walked out the door, Ross grabbing another candy on the way out. The group drove back to Bernie's, delivered the message, and decided to call it a night, heading out the first thing tomorrow.


	9. The Shopping Trips

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

 **Note: It's not actually a hotel irl it's a restaurant it's just called that, but for plot's sake I'll have it be a small hotel.**

* * *

 **POV: Lost Hills Expedition Force(Colin, Brian, Lizzy** **(set to be left at Lost Hills)** **, Emily)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 8**

* * *

The Expedition had just arrived in a small town that had a population of about 125. They had arrived at the hotel, the most likely place to hold any survivors. The sight a few slimes scared them in. The lights were off, the only light being the ones coming in through the doors and windows of the lobby. Likely the floors would be darker. Emily seemed really worried.

"We're probably stuck here." She noted.

"Oh why?" Lizzy asked.

"The slimes outside." Emily replied. "I'd doubt we'll make it back, all of us."

"Oh don't doubt yourself." Brian noted. "We need to stay optimistic. It's not too big. Four floors, counting this."

Some banging on the doors occured, causing the group to scatter. Brian and Lizzy went one way, and Colin and Emily went different ways.

* * *

 **POV: Brian and Lizzy**

* * *

"Oh no..." Lizzy said, closing the door to the upstairs behind them. "We're screwed."

"Okay..." Brian said. "Let's just go upstairs, find whoever's left."

"This was a bad idea..." Lizzy seemed like she was about to cry. Brian comforted her. "It'll be okay." He replied. "Let's keep going."

The two ran up the stairs, coming out to the second floor. It was nearly pitch-black, but someone in the distance was wielding a light.

'Careful." Lizzy said, fear in her voice. "Could be an anglerfish type thing."

"Hello?" The voice said back. "You lost?"

"Yes!" Lizzy yelled back. The light shined at them for a moment, but then a yelp was heard, then a door opening and slamming shut. The light was gone, but the duo had heard them yell for cover. The two of them found three yellow lights, similar to glow-sticks, in the air. They didn't seem to shine very far, however, they were visible, but lighted up litte, if any, of the hallway. As it began rapidly approaching the duo, Lizzy was pulled into the room next to them. Brian was now alone, but now knew someone was there. He rolled forward, albeit very sloppily, avoiding the creature's pounce, catching its glowing red eyes. He began dashing for where the voice had been, the creature chasing him. However, he ended up just bumping into the door, but lucky for him, it was a push door, him stumbling up to the third floor, in which there was an open door in which he could close. However, there was also a slime in here, though much more of a scaredy cat. Brian took the small light that was in the middle of the two of them, and they began circling. The window provided a small amount of light, and Brian thought of jumping. It might work, but it may end up with him breaking something. A similar idea ended up with the feline in the room with him. They both ran for the window, Brian barely making it out faster than the creature, but in the panic, failed to get a proper landing technique, breaking an ankle. The creature landed directly on top of him, faring none the better. Both are knocked unconscious by the impact of the creature, neither knowing what was going to come of them upon regaining consciousness.

* * *

 **POV: Lizzy**

* * *

Lizzy was freaking out. She was yoinked in a room by someone and still couldn't see.

"Hello?" She asked. A light was shined on her.

"Oh thank God." A male voice said. "She's fine."

"Don't be too sure..." A female voice said, suggesting the male review her body for any exposure.

"I..." Lizzy replied. "Think I'm fine... Don't feel all goopy."

"Good." The female voice commented. "Just want to be sure and all."

Lizzy understood. The male voice called an all clear on Lizzy. The blinds were closed, so there wasn't light in this room. A lantern was lit, showing the pair, a pair of african-americans, the female quite voluptuous, and the male nearly a twig. Lizzy noted the contrast between the two.

"Yes." The female said. "That's an observation yes.' The male nodded along in agreement. Lizzy asked who they were.

"I'm Alex and this is Keesha." The male said about himself and the female.

"Nice to meet the two of you." Lizzy said. "I'm Lizzy."

Alex nodded. "How'd you get here?"

"I'm from Santa Clarita myself." Lizzy noted. "I came with a group, ended up in Lost Hills, where the town's still kinda organized. They sent us down here with a native to see what's here. Got ambushed by those creatures, and now I'm here."

"LA eh?" Keesha replied. "Wasn't expecting you'd be from there."

"Barely in, one of the farther out suburbs." Lizzy replied. "A decent city in its own right."

"How big?" Alex asked.

"At least 6 figures." Lizzy responded. "You have any buddies here?"

"Not that we know are left." Keesha replied. "You?"

"I think there were a dozen when we got to Lost Hills. Only three of us went down here, two stayed guard back where we started, and the other 6-7 stayed back in the town proper."

"So if you don't make it back your cause still lives on?" Keesha asked.

"Well I was gonna stay there." Lizzy said. "I don't want to adventure.'

"Fair enough." Alex said.

"Plus I'm, or I was, a cop." Lizzy said. "Might as well go somewhere where my skills are useful."

Alex nodded.

"So can I join you two for now?" Lizzy asked.

"Well of course." Keesha said. "Otherwise we wouldn't have yanked you in here."

"Ah right." Lizzy responded.

"Well let's get you to the main room." Alex said, since this was one with a roomed off living/bed quarters, and off they went inside. Inside was a torch, and a few more people. Mostly children and teenagers.

"That's a young crowd." Lizzy noted.

"Well, let's get you settled in then Lizzy." Alex replied, going to do that. Inside were mostly children, some teenagers.

"Small crowd huh?" Lizzy asked. Keesha nodded.

"These were the ones that made it here. That's what just happened to be." She responded with. Lizzy nodded. Lizzy felt like she'd be happy here, at least for now. **(A/N: This is gonna be the end of this segment, so this chapter isn't like 5000 words. Colin and Emily's adventures will be next chapter.)**

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Liam, Pidove, Glameow, Emmy(Eevee), Heather(Audino), Wooper)**

 **Time: Day 1, Hour 19**

* * *

Arin, going in alone so Dan can keep an eye on the slimes, entered the little gas station store thingy. Inside seemed like what it was, a place to buy snacks and beverages, and also a small restaurant inside. Arin was alone in this fashion, so nobody would know if he was picked off, not that we would have.

"Hello there!" One person said. "Nice to see another human face."

"Oh hi there." Arin replied. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Lisa. I run the place at the moment." The woman said, a slightly chubby Caucasian with neck-length blond curls, in the standard employee outfit.

"Well I'm Arin." Arin replied. "What do you have by chance?"

"Well we haven't had too many things taken quite yet." Lisa replied. "We're basically full up on supplies, besides the restaurant portion. They're a little lower on supply, but even then."

Arin seemed to be happy about this statement. "That's good to know. Know if there's gas left?"

"Well with the line..." Lisa said. "I'm not sure. Could be people sapping it dry for all I know.'

"Well if you plan to set up shop around here." Arin replied. "Valuable resource once it starts becoming rare."

Lisa nodded. "So you buying anything?"

Arin seemed unsure. "We weren't expecting people honestly."

"Ah. So you came to loot?" Lisa asked.

"Well not anymore." Arin replied.

Lisa nodded in approval.

"So what brings _you_ here?" Arin asked of Lisa.

"Oh I worked here. Decided to just stick around when things went down. Most of us did." Lisa replied.

"There's others?" Arin asked.

Lisa nodded again. "Yeah, nearly the whole staff is still around."

"Interesting." Arin replied.

Lisa asked if Arin wanted to go into the Restaurant section, maybe get a bite to eat.

"Well, I've got a partner, and he's keeping an eye on our slimes."

Lisa stuttered a bit. "Y-your slimes?"

"Yeah... Turns out they're tame around me." Arin replied

Lisa seemed stunned. "That's... That's amazing."

Arin seemed not as impressed.

"Well you can take something out to your partner, on me." Lisa replied. "Might be a tale to tell, tall tale-wise."

"You'd make up a legend, just for me?" Arin asked. "That's pretty cool.

Lisa nodded, smiling, as the two went to the restaurant section of the place, which was quite busy for the quote-unquote post-apocalypse. Soft rock was playing on the speakers.

"You still get music?" Arin asked.

"It's our own. We're thinking about operating a pirate radio station around here. May as well treat them to music, right?" Lisa asked.

Arin found that a good idea. "It'd be good for those sticking around. Or at least the slimes." Arin replied.

Lisa giggled. "You're not taken by chance, are you?"

"Actually I'm already married." Arin commented. "She's not with me though. She went north, I went west."

"You split up?" Lisa asked.

"Well we just went as a group. Me and my partner packed the supplies we needed for us. They went with a larger group." Arin commented. Lisa understood.

"So where are they now?" Lisa asked. Arin didn't know, he shrugged.

"Oh..." Lisa commented. "Not good."

"No..." Arin replied. "It isn't."

"Well hope they're okay!" Lisa replied.

"I have a feeling they are." Arin said.

Lisa smiled at that reply. A waitress came up, thinner but shorter than Lisa, and with an ever so slightly darker skin tone. "Hey Lisa. What brings you down to this end?"

"Oh hey Ava." Lisa replied. "This guy has a partner outside, and I was showing him around, and getting his partner something."

Arin nodded. "Nice to meet you Ava. I'm Arin."

Ava was about to ask how they knew her name, but Lisa had called her that. "Well hello Arin. Hope your travels have been well so far."

"They have." Arin replied. "I feel really good about our chances to make it."

"Well with how these things are moving..." Ava said. "Might be safer to not try."

"Elaborate?" Arin said.

"Well..." Ava replied. "They seem to not be pooling too much after they blaze through. I mean you have the infected that are left behind, but with proper quarantine..."

Arin seemed interested in Ava's ideas.

"Anyways. Here's your menus." Ava handed them menus. Arin decided to order two burgers, and french fries. Lisa ordered a raspberry milkshake, and treated Arin to a chocolate one, getting Dan a vanilla one to go.

"Well he'll like that." Arin replied. Lisa smiled.

"You're welcome." Lisa replied, sounding quite happy.

"It's nice to see that at least _somebody_ is making this thing work."

"I wouldn't say that." Lisa replied. "It's just that it hasn't been long enough for things to go wrong yet. Give it a week."

"Well if you're so sure..." Arin said. "Why not come with us?"

"No thanks." Lisa said. "Somebody's gotta greet the people, right?"

"Well I mean someone else could do it." Arin replied. Lisa stuck to her guns.

"No, but thanks a lot!" She replied.

"Well _you're_ welcome." Arin replied.

Lisa smiled. "Well..."

"What is it?" Arin asked.

"I do want to go... I just can't..." Lisa said. "I've got duty here."

"They're bound to find a replacement. Greeter jobs are pretty easy if you're nice."

"You saying I'm nice?" Lisa asked. "Thanks if so!"

Arin nodded. "You're welcome. You'll even get to meet the slimes I tamed.'

Lisa seemed scared about that, but excited. "I've got gas in my own car if you wanna have that."

"That's great." Arin said. "I had realized after inviting you that we couldn't take you because of all the slimes."

"I'll let the boss know." Lisa said, walking off to go do that.

Arin waited, and Lisa got back right before the food got here, all packed up in to-go containers, the check already there. Lisa and Arin split the check, Arin leaving the tip, and they walked out the door.

"Dan, this is Lisa. She'll be coming with us." Arin said to Dan once they got back. Lisa ran off to go get her car, Arin explaining that. After two minutes, Lisa was ready. She wouldn't have communication like Heather did, but she'd prove useful. She may be able to join in later on the comm system, depending on if they found anything. Upon meeting up with Heather, who had left Lisa breathless with her mere humanity, they decided to now join up onto I-15. They decided to go off, and off they went.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross, Sylv, Edward)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 8**

* * *

Edward had just gotten up, the last of the quartet to do so. The others were already ready to go, but Edward had to re-pack his previous outfit. Edward didn't really have much, and kind of just grabbed what he could from the school. The other outfit wasn't even his, it was another boy's who had packed a spare.

"Morning kid." Sylv said as he went down the stairs, being really careful as to not step in Sylv's left-behind goop, which was something she did, generally having a small puddle at her feet.

"Oh hi." Edward said, kinda nervous.

"You don't have to be scared of me specifically." Sylv noted. "Just the drippings."

"Oh okay..." Edward said.

"Ready to go?" Barry asked. Ross and Sylv noded, Edward had a few more things to pack. He soon came back with a small duffle bag.

"Now?" Sylv asked. Edward nodded. Sylv thanked Bernie for the stay, and so did the others afterwards. Sylv blew Bernie a kiss due to the whole 'she can't hug people' thing. The quartet went out, Edward grabbing one or two more things on the way out. This time they headed north. Before returning to the Interstate, they found a shopping complex. Edward suggested stopping there for supplies, specifically the hardware store for building supplies. He said that they might be useful in trading.

"Well if you insist." Ross commented, pulling in. There may be other good supplies there as well. When they went in, they found a nearly full parking lot.

"Interesting." Barry commented.

Ross nodded in agreement, finding a pretty close spot. "That's convenient."

"We stop?" Sylv yelled/asked.

Ross yelled back to say yes. Sylv asked if she could get out.

"Let's all go in this time. Though you'll probably need that leash Sylv. There could be people in there." Ross replied. Sylv reluctantly accepted, having the leash be put on while Ross wore plastic glove.

"I understand and all..." Sylv said. "But this still sucks."

Ross had nothing to say. Barry replied with "That's how it is."

Sylv nodded with a significant bounce to the nod.

The quartet walked in to the store, though many were freaked out by the slime on the way in. Ross went ahead to ask what would be best of their seemingly 'pet'. The store clerk asked the manager, who said to just keep the thing on a short leash, and they'd be booted if it transformed anyone. This was relayed to Sylv, who again begrudgingly accepted.

The quartet resumed walking in, still getting odd glances at the Sylveon. Sylv felt embarrassed. They began walking, encountering lawn care supplies first, along with lighting. Lumber was on the other end of the store, though that was selling very fast. Edward suggested a crank light, which was the first thing they got. Continuing walking down, a tool kit, some prepper-type rations, tire patches, a few more lanterns and flashlights, and a couple of other survival items were bought. They went to the checkout, Barry and Sylv being told by Ross to head out in order to calm peoples nerves down. Wood was also bought, but only a small amount of it. Some nails were also bought and screws as well.

"So what's up with the pet there?" The clerk asked.

"Well..." Ross said. "We generally treat her as an equal when we can, but if she's not on a leash ,she'll cause mass panic by just being around."

"Or even with the leash." The clerk commented. "Why keep her around?"

"She knows more about these creatures than anyone else." Ross replied. "Probably repulsion tactics too."

"Interesting..." The clerk replied. "Ever not trust her?"

"I trust her as much as I trust anyone else." Ross replied.

"Ever get scared she could just pounce you?" The clerk asked. Ross hadn't thought of that, but shrugged it off.

"Well, here you go." Ross said, paying the inflated prices of the store at the moment.

"Thank you." The clerk said. "Good luck with that pet. You'll need it."

Ross walked out, debating whether to go anywhere else with his group. This time, it was decided that Sylv and Ross would stay in the vehicle, and Barry and Edward, with the cash, would shop at the other places. Barry and Edward were dropped off at the next location, a Target, and inside they went.


	10. The Escape

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

 **Note: See Chapter 9 for Lizzy and Brian's stories once they got split off. Those will continue in Chapter 11. This will likely continue until I can re-tie their stories together.**

* * *

 **POV: Emily**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 8**

* * *

Having been split off from the rest of the group, Emily armed herself, sneaking up stairs on the other end. Her goal was to get to the top, and hopefully have jury-rigged a makeshift glider by that point. The elderly woman turned to the second floor, hiding in the dark as a figure was chased up the stairs by a creature. She took the opportunity to go in the opposite direction of the creature, opening up the room to her left, due to the fact that it had been propped open. Removing a bedsheet, she had found her glider's structure, or at least something to not have her hit the ground as hard from the top of the building. Noting noises from the outside, she closed the door.

"Hey!" A voice, feminine, said. "What are you doing in there!"

"Oh a survivor?" Emily replied. "Let me check the peephole, if I can get anything out of that..."

She couldn't see anything.

"How do I know you're somehow not a creature that can talk?" Emily asked.

"Well you'd be stuck if I was. Let me in." The voice replied.

Emily complied, the person seeming angered at the theft of the sheet.

"Calm down. I'm using it for my escape. You might be able to come, there's another one there." She said.

"Escape?" The person replied.

"Yeah. Gonna jury rig a glider, and get out of here." Emily responded.

"Well count me in." The voice replied, grabbing a sheet for herself, feeling around to do so. Emily looked as to make sure things were clear. They were, minus someone getting attacked on the very end of the hall, which hopefully wouldn't notice the duo.

"Let's go." Emily replied. "Make it snappy."

The duo bolted for the stairs, getting the attention of the creature, chasing after them. The duo managed to lose them though, by opening the door for the third floor on the way up, making the creature think they had ran down that hallway. They soon reached the fourth floor, and now had to find the roof escape. It was still very dark on this floor. Neither of them knew the hotel well enough to know where it was.

"Where is it..." The voice replied scared.

"Where would a roof access be..." Emily asked.

"Oh hello there!" A man with a thick Australian accent said. "You two looking for the roof?"

"Yes." Emily said. "I can jury rig a glider or two likely and I need to get up there to get enough distance to avoid the creatures."

"I'll let you up there, but you have to make one for me." The man replied. "Only fair."

"You got something to use?" Emily replied.

"I've got a tarp." The man replied.

"Fine." Emily replied, the man taking Emily's hand, spooking her, guiding the two females to the roof stairs, going up and opening the hatch. The two females stopped to adjust to being in light again. The other females looks were revealed, an Asian female with long, brown hair and a very thin figure, appearing to be barely an adult. The man seemed to be a well-built Australian male.

"I presume you two need glider structures?" The man asked.

"I was gonna use the cable thing." Emily said.

"Ah that, useful. I can get that set up for you. Just guard the roof access, you're armed." The man replied.

It took a few minutes to disassemble the rooftop metal structure, and another 30-35 to make glider structures, and a further 10 to string the sheets and tarp across, though they weren't very good. Emily was having a hard time keeping the roof access unoccupied at this point, scaring off enough creatures to run out of ammo.

"You about ready?" Emily asked, hearing her gun click.

"Yes. Just hope to God they work." The man said.

The female and Emily went to grab their respective gliders, as an angered Liepard appeared on the roof from the access stairway.

"Run!" The man shouted, getting a running start. Emily and the female went to go grab theirs, Emily offering to hold them back while the female glided away.

"I can't just leave you!" The female shouted.

"It's just one." Emily replied. "I can handle it."

"But..." The female replied.

"And we barely know each other." Emily said. "Don't get too attached to people. I've got a car out front, you can hide in that, and if I'm not back in 10, the keys are in it. Drive off. There's a town to the north. Get to the interstate and it'll be right before it."

The female, saddened by this, ran off herself. The man had already glided into the distance, the tarp making a significantly better glider structure than the sheet of the female's, functioning almost as a parachute rather than a glider. Still saved her from her fall, however.

This left Emily and the Liepard. The Liepard charged, Emily hitting it with the glider, it bounding off due to the tighter nature of this glider. Throwing her pistol to momentarily stun the Liepard, she ran off the side of the roof her vehicle was on, crashing into the awning, with mild injury, landing on the concrete below. The female, noticing her, got out, put her in the passenger seat, and drove off, not knowing that the slimes were now on their trail.

* * *

 **POV: Colin**

* * *

Colin, having been separated from the expeditionary force, decided to merely sneak out the back, finding an employees only section to go in. He was spotted by the entering mob of slimes, which began pursuit. Eventually he was nearly cornered, dodging a swing from a canine-like creature and slipping into the employees only section. Someone tried to stop him, but was quickly overcome by the creatures. This would be the key to Colin's survival. He didn't have to outrun the slimes if they paused to infect enough people. The lights of the windows made it easier to see, but it also made it easier to be seen. Maneuvering the halls would be key to survival. While the slimes split up, Colin followed the separately batteried exit signs. The arrows were very useful for escape, but also guided slimes to escape as well. Noises were also heard outside, but Colin had more of a chance outside than he did inside. Taking the door out, managing to narrowly escape a face-clawing, Colin dashed out the door, noting a much more populated town, though this time with slimes. Colin decided to bolt it for the nearest major building in his present direction, which happened to be a manufactory. He was quickly blocked off by slimes, who instead went the other way, towards the town center. A loud noise was then heard, scaring off the slimes. It appeared to be a helicopter, which was quickly lowering in altitude. By the time Colin had gotten to the center of town, slimes began to surround him. Thinking it was the end, he thought to himself a bit about how it had all gone, and wondered if the others would be okay without him. Then, deus ex machina styled, the helicopter dropped it's ladder, the person in the bay yelling for Colin to go up. Colin grabbed onto the ladder, and the helicopter began to fly up, him slowly climbing up the ladder as slimes tried jumping up to get him. When he arrived in the helicopter bay, he encountered two soldiers, both Canadian.

"Saw you there." The elder male said. "Thought we'd rescue you."

The younger male, barely 18, nodded.

"Well thanks for rescuing me. I'm currently looking for my group." Colin replied.

"Well we don't have room for many. Maybe one more?" The younger one asked. The elder male nodded.

"Well I'm Corporal John Stevenson." The elder male replied. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Colin sir." Colin replied.

"Nice to meet you. Things are dicey down there." The Corporal replied.

Colin nodded. The younger male introduced themselves as Private Benjamin Harrad, though he said to call him Ben.

"Well can we go back to the settlement I came from?" Colin asked. "Or do you have specific destinations in mind?"

"Not really civilian." The Corporal replied. "Show us the way. Well the pilots of course"

"Thanks sir." Colin replied, going up to the cockpit. "Don't know if there's a super good place to land though."

"That'll be fine." The pilot replied. "I'm pretty good at tight spaces."

"Thank you." Colin replied, taking a seat in the copter as it flew towards Lost Hills.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Liam, Pidove, Glameow, Emmy(Eevee), Heather(Audino), Wooper, Lisa)**

 **Time: Day 1, Hour 19**

* * *

Arin had just left the Food Mart, having recruited Lisa. They also decided to go down the Interstate, due to it having cleared out significantly.

"You know, we should start looking for a place to sleep." Dan noted. "By the time we find one, it'll be late."

"But if we sleep somewhere..." Arin said. "Non-friendly slimes may attack.."

"Well haven't they all been friendly to you so far?" Dan asked.

"Yeah... Me..." Arin said, noting Dan, Liam, and now Lisa's human status.

"Fair enough." Dan said. "But an all nighter isn't healthy."

"I know." Arin said. "Maybe we'll swap at the next stop."

"Or we could go to a still human hotel." Dan said.

"Where would one of those be though?

Dan seemed unsure, but sure one existed.

"Nice to see you're optimistic though." Arin replied, humming along to the classical music playing. It wasn't coming in as well as it did.

"When should we try and find a new station?" Dan asked.

"It's fine." Arin commented.

Dan seemed fine with that. Arin nodded in approval.

Heather asked how long they planned to drive as of now. Arin replied with the idea of stopping about an hour or two later, 8 or 9 PM. Heather seemed fine with that. Due to the near emptiness of the interstate, Arin could continue at a solid 55mph, below what the normal interstate speed limits would be, but a solid speed nonetheless. During the time, different radio stations began to come and go, due to the distance from the big city. Classical music turned to soft rock as the survivors' music played on. This was received much better by Emmy and Glameow, but Pidove seemed to be stroked the wrong way. Possibly a disliking, or a painful memory being triggered. But it was what came in, so she really couldn't complain. The first exit seemed to lead nowhere, and the second left to a memorial, which Arin and Dan decided to stop at. The monument was for a field hospital that was part of desert training during WWII. The field hospital also served troops during a short period of the Vietnam war. With the marker looked at, Arin continued down Interstate 10. The third exit brought them upon a bit of town, or what looked like it. Houses seemed to be distant, but they parked to check on the post office. They left a few dollars for a postcard, and took a letter marked for something down the road, clutched by a fresh corpse, which appeared to be killed during conflict of some sort. For legality's sake, they did not open the letter. Returning to I-10, before the fourth exit, they found a large power station, almost right next to the interstate. That exit lead literally nowhere, only country roads. Signs of people building makeshift shacks in the desert were there, but they declined to stop. Pidove began peering out the window, wondering what would happen to herself. After a bend on the road, a second useless exit, the fifth on their journey so far, came and went. The sixth had a rest stop, which Arin used to pee. Pidove asked for something crunchy, so Arin bought her a bag of chips, buying a soda for Emmy, and a Snickers for Dan. Glameow declined anything. Heather then got out on her own, but then Arin requested he buy whatever she had planned to get so other visitors could use the machine. An iced tea, still cold, was given to her. Wooper also got a candy bar, this time a Three Musketeers. After everyone had what they wanted, Glameow declining anything a second and third time, and Arin buying her a water anyways, they headed out. They decided against exploring the prison to the south. The next exit had a more significant town, the interstate blocked off at this point, forcing Arin to take the exit. Signs pointed to a camp in the town. Arin decided to go on to that location. One right and one left was all that was needed to get to the location's driveway. A man greeted him.

"Oh hello." Arin commented.

"Welcome to my place." The man who introduced himself as Alan said. "Come in, get yourself checked in, have a rest."

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross, Sylv, Edward)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 8**

* * *

Barry and Edward, having left Ross and Sylv to park on the other end, walked into the Target. The Target was much less staffed, the dining area walled off with wood, a door installed. Edward pointed it out.

"Think those creatures are in the store bit?" Edward asked.

"Maybe." Barry commented.

The duo decided to check in the dining area, which contained the Starbucks and a small area for serving miscellaneous hot foods. The greeter greeted them, noting how bad things had gotten, asking if they could clear out the area, or at least get supplies from the grocery section. The duo seemed up to it. They were even offered a coffee as reward, maybe a bakery item for the little one instead. They went out, noting behavior patterns similar to that of possums or raccoons, that were rather skittish around the humans. Barry took that as a sign that things would go well. They went down the clothing areas, taking a cart and collecting specified size clothes for the ones trapped in there.

"How come they're trapped there? Can't they just leave if they're so skittish?" Edward asked.

"Maybe they're just really scared?" Barry asked. "We've seen not aggressive ones. Maybe they haven't?"

Edward shrugged, keeping walking, coming to the electronics and board games section. Edward grabbed a few board games to entertain the people there, even though that wasn't on the list. Ross shrugged, since cart space wasn't too much of a worry. The grocery section was the most populated area. The freezer section seemed less populated, besides a few ice-types that didn't mind eating the cold things. They grabbed a few frozen items, avoiding the Glaceon and the Froslass. They also grabbed the milk, eggs, and other fridge items against the wall. Cabinet-type items would have to wait however, as the cart was full and the slimes were there. They returned, noting that it was only one load. The group unpacked, thanking the duo for the list.

"We've got room for one more if anyone wants to leave." Barry noted.

There was murmur, people arguing about who should go.

"Woah, calm down." Barry noted. "Well how about this. Whoever wants to go, come for load two with us. If you make it out, you'll be considered."

Three adults seemed up for it. The first was a hispanic male, built large. The second was a barely 15 caucasian female. It was clear that she only wanted to get out of there. The third was a nerdy 17 year old hispanic boy. He seemed like he wanted to impress the female. The five departed, as Barry caught them up on goals.

"Well before we go. What're your names?" Barry asked.

"The name's Emmanuel sir." The smaller male said.

"My name is Juarez." The elder male said.

"Brittney." The female said, and that alone."

"Good to know." Barry noted. "Now let's get going."

"I'll lead." Juarez noted. "I'm the strongest and all."

"Yeah..." Edward replied. "But you'll be needed at the back to throw things. Don't want you getting transformed."

Juarez took the opportunity to stay back for increased likelihood of leaving.

Emmanuel decided to lead to impress Brittney. Brittney didn't seem to like him very much. They managed to get to the section they needed, populated by a Pachirisu and a Prinplup. They both noticed the quintet, taking defensive positions. Juarez, taking the advice of Edward, picked up a heavy object to toss and hopefully repel the slimes. Before he could do that, Emmanuel raced up, grabbing a baguette to use as a sword.

"You idiot!" Juarez yelled. "That's practically suicide!"

Brittney, finding the squirrel cute, also took an melee pattern. Barry took one, and put it back in the cart. The Pachirisu pounced on Brittney, she quickly regretted her melee, and Emmanuel, not knowing much about the slimes, tried to get it off of her. Barry recommended the remaining three take what was needed and leave. Brittney tossed a few things before her hand got covered, though they didn't pick up the last thing for that reason. Having grabbed most of the supplies from that aisle, Edward paused a moment to watch the horrified reactions to transformation, Juarez picking him up, as Barry grabbed the last of the foodstuffs needed, though he did have to trade one of his two spare baguettes in exchange for a box of cookies. Having returned, not noticing that the newly transformed Salazzle and Porygon-2, in to some a fate worse than death, were left non-feral, but the Salazzle unable to talk, and the Porygon2 too shy to. However, they could speak Pokemon language, so the Salazzle wasn't really mute. While Barry, Edward, and Juarez left for the other store, the duo recovered from the shock.

"Why did I do that..." Brittney said in her new language, covering her snout at the new noises. Emmanuel groaned. The Pachirisu hugged the new slime. It seemed to _really_ be mute.

"Are you... even still there?" Brittney asked, still really scared.

"Calm down sweetie..." The Prinplup replied. "She's mute. She can't speak, even our language. She's still in there, but she can't let anyone know she is?"

"H-how can I understand you?" The Salazzle replied, scared.

"Well you're one of us now..." The Prinplup said, trying to appear as motherly as their specifically androgynous body would allow.

"Oh God..." The Salazzle replied. "I'm still 'in here' right?"

"Well you're not acting like an animal, so yes." The Prinplup replied. "Might get worse over time though."

"G-get worse?" The Salazzle replied.

"It's species-specific." The Prinplup replied. "You have pheromones, which might affect how your brain works."

The Salazzle whimpered, falling into the Prinplup's wings.

"It's okay..." The penguin-like creature replied. "You're safe with us..."

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

* * *

"I'm kinda sad..." Edward said. "They were so young..."

"Well honestly." Barry replied. "Juarez was always going to be more useful. His strength is a category we previously lacked. Juarez came back with an amount of supplies he had taken for himself, a few changes of clothes and food for a few days, along with a lighter and a dozen or so gel heat cans. Barry was in charge of taking the cart to Ross and Sylv and Juarez and Edward went into the next store, a T.J. Maxx/Homegoods store.

* * *

 **A/N: The story of Brittney and Emmanuel will be one of the side stories that I might write as a** **separate** **story, for side-stories, or the story of the shacks built that Arin and Dan passed by, or stories from things not referenced in the story yet, such as a Commander Holly arc.**


	11. The Intervention

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

 **Note: Gonna try and tie Emily and Colin's stories together today, and leave Lizzy for one of the side arcs later on. Gonna do an** **auxiliary** **as a side group of three stories, Brian, Lizzy, and Brittney's groups, giving that I was told that if the stories were long enough, it'd be justified(Brian and Lizzy's will be, don't know about Brittney's yet.)**

* * *

 **POV: Lost Hills Expedition Force(Emily, Unnamed Female)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 8**

* * *

"So." Emily asked. "Now that we've escaped, what's your name?"

"Amelia." The female replied.

Emily introduced herself back.

"Things are a lot better where I'm from." Emily noted. "Well for now. We're trying to set up our own place. I don't know how far we'll manage to go into the future."

"Internal problems, or just all these creatures?" Amelia asked.

"Mostly the second one." Emily noted. The duo turned up Lost Hills Road, having 'lost' the slimes behind them. Having arrived at the southern base about thirty minutes later, meeting with Greg, Michelle, and Mariette.

"How'd it go?" Michelle asked.

"Wait... Where are the others?" Greg asked.

"Had to scatter." Emily replied. "Rescued Amelia here on my way out."

"Well if you took the car..." Greg replied. "How'll the others get back?"

"I had to go for my own survival." Emily replied.

Michelle noticed something on the horizon. "Hey... I think you got followed..."

Emily asked what she had meant. Michelle pointed out the things which appeared to be approaching. It didn't look like much but Emily seemed worried.

"What if they didn't lose track of us?" She asked Amelia.

"Well they're smarter that you think then." Amelia replied.

Greg asked what they had meant. Amelia explained their escape. Greg seemed worried about that.

"Should we go?" Amelia asked. "We have a vehicle."

"Well the fort by the interstate is fortified. Let's evacuate there, gather up who you have." Emily replied, inviting the trio in their vehicle.

The three got in, driving towards the town. **  
**

* * *

 **15 minutes later...**

 **POV: Colin**

* * *

Colin had flown in with the help of Canadian troops. They lowered in altitude, noting the panic that was going on below. The slimes, having followed Amelia and Emily's car back, had infected quite a few. A small motorcade formed with those that could evacuate, being about 6-7 cars. Colin told the Canadians to go to the fort, out by the interstate, giving that it was the location of many of the convoy members that hadn't gone to guard or explore. The helicopter flew that way, quickly noting the motorcade going about the same direction. They landed on the hotel roof, Colin rushing down the roof access, thanking the duo for a ride, and asking them to stick around as long as possible in order for him to have an alternate escape. They complied, as any survivors would be good. Colin ran to the rooms they had rented, running into Suzy, who looked after Audrey. Sadness overcame him for a second, as he was reminded that Brian, one of those presumably lost, was a father. Colin filled Suzy in on what was going on. Suzy invited him to travel with Alyssa and Matt, who had also stuck around in case something like this happened. After 5 minutes, telling the helicopter above that Colin was going to travel by road, and taking two other guests up to be rescued instead, Suzy and Colin packed up quickly, heading out after another 5 minutes. By this point, the motorcade from the town had arrived to help evacuate who they could. Colin got in the vehicle, the two slimes in the back. Emily, having her party stick around in case of the worst, noticed the quartet, noting that she had safely taken Greg, Michelle, and Mariette. Colin found it good that the Crimson Convoy was at least complete. George's truck was also in the convoy, but they didn't notice that yet. Emily invited the group to just go with the two of them. Colin noted to wait for George for a little bit, as Emily had waited for them. Emily agreed reluctantly, but did say it wouldn't be for long, as the creatures were besieging the makeshift fence. Colin agreed. As the time passed, George came back with a pregnant woman and her other very young child, noting the whole "women and children first" thing. George had her go into Colin's vehicle, due to the fact that there was enough space for the both of them and a spare car seat for the young one. The husky they had went in with George, which would likely prove useful. Right as the next vehicle in the convoy's group came out, the gate broke in a spot, the creatures taking advantage of it. George rushed out in order to help. Emily seemed annoyed, wanting to go. George, having managed to help the group get in their vehicle, rushed back, jumping over a Growlithe, a younger slime, which decided to hitch a ride in the bed with its Arcanine mother, unbeknownst to George. The four vehicles drove off, hoping that the others would be slightly okay.

* * *

 **100 minutes later...**

 **Day 2, Hour 10**

* * *

The group stopped at a rest stop, having felt sufficiently far enough away. George was the first to get out, re-uniting the canine with his owners.

"Thanks for taking us..." The woman said to George. "We never would've made it without you."

"It's nothing." George replied. "We lost people too." The rest of the group gathered up for a meeting.

"Who's here?" Colin asked.

"I'm still here." Suzy said, holding Audrey, both noticeably upset.

"We're also present." Greg said of him and Michelle. Mariette waved.

"Those slimes are still in the back too." Suzy noted. The other woman seemed panicked by those words.

"Don't worry." Colin replied. "They're friendly, and contained." This did little to faze the woman.

"I'm present." Emily said, also distraught.

Amelia introduced herself to the rest of the Convoy. After this, another vehicle pulled up. Inside was a bloodied Alyssa and an unconscious male. Alyssa got out, limping.

"You're alive!" Colin noted.

"What happened to you?" Emily asked.

"Ambushed. Human parties looking to profit from the problems." Alyssa replied.

"Is your friend there in good shape?" Emily asked.

"I don't know." Alyssa knew he was alive though, her telling the group that.

"Well we've lost many a person, but we've gained a few too." Colin replied. Colin counted how many people were there. There were the four core Convoy members, George, Emily and her friend, Alyssa and her partner, Suzy and Audrey, and the mother and child, minus the slimes. That left 13 humans in the group, along with Mariette, who Colin forgot."

"One over a dozen people are here." Colin said. "Might be bigger than a lot of groups."

"Supplies may be an issue." Emily replied.

"Fine." Colin said. "That's a fair comment. Well who's the mother and child there?"

"I'm..." The mother replied. "I'm Vicky, and this is Adela."

"Nice to meet you two. I'm Colin." Colin said. "Would you like to continue with us, or do you want to go on your own? Have anywhere to go?"

"I might have somewhere to go..." Vicky replied. "But I don't wanna risk it."

"Fair enough." Colin replied. "Anyone want some snacks, since we're here?"

"Well..." Vicky replied. "Wouldn't hurt."

Suzy seemed upset. Colin decided to buy her a candy bar. Alyssa took something as well.

"Should we stay here?" Vicky replied, eating her chips.

"It's not the best place for a camp." Colin replied.

"Why not?" Vicky replied.

"No real defense." Colin replied.

"We should get north." Alyssa replied.

"What about San Francisco?" Emily asked. "Could be more supplies there."

"It's out of the way however..." Colin replied.

"Plus." Greg said. "5'll bring us to Sacramento."

"Well..." Emily replied. "If anyone wants to come with, there's bound to be someone there."

"Take my vehicle." Alyssa said. "I'll take yours."

"Fine." Emily replied. "Thanks for taking me. Amelia, do you want to come?"

"I don't think so." Amelia replied. "I feel like this group is safe."

Vicky also elected to stay, the other new person in the group. Emily got in her car and then drove off, wishing everyone goodbye.

"What are we gonna do then?" Vicky asked.

"Take 5 all the way north." Colin replied. "Hope we get to Canada."

"Is hope all we have?" Amelia replied.

"Pretty much." Colin said. "Hopefully we have each other.'

"Who's left of us..." Suzy replied.

"Yeah..." Colin replied. He didn't know Brian very well, but still felt bad. "What matters is _we_ make it. Their deaths will be in vein otherwise. Let's go."

Colin dismissed the group, everyone going to their respective vehicles, and driving north on I-5. Alyssa got in with Greg.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Liam, Pidove, Glameow, Emmy(Eevee), Heather(Audino), Wooper, Lisa)**

 **Time: Day 1, Hour 19**

* * *

Arin had just arrived at Alan's Place, and was about to tell him about the slimes in the back and in the other car.

"Welcome." Alan said. "There was something you were going to say?"

Arin paused for a moment. "We found some slimes. They're friendly."

"Friendly?" Alan asked. "What might you mean?"

'They didn't infect me or my partner right away." Arin replied. "In fact, few members of my group are even human."

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle." Alan replied. "You could use that."

"Anyone could." Arin replied.

"I have a feeling you have somewhere to be though." Alan replied.

"Yes." Arin replied. "I have friends that I have to see.'

Alan nodded. "I have to keep here together, otherwise I would have left. I keep these people in check."

"In check?" Arin asked.

"Yes." Alan said. "Though if there are slimes as friendly as yours, we may wish to intermix."

"I wouldn't recommend that." Arin replied. "Most are human-phobic or downright aggressive, or so I've been told."

"Well..." Alan said. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"What do you mean?" Arin asked.

'It just feels like I can't keep this going for long." Alan replied. "There's not enough supplies, not enough defense, and I don't know what else."

"Keep yourselves here." Arin replied. "If you can that is."

"Why?" Alan asked.

"For our sake.' Arin said. 'Other survivors. They'll stop here if they know you are here. You're not alone out here."

"We're not?" Alan asked.

"Well I showed up." Arin replied. "Didn't I?"

"Well I guess..." Alan replied. 'It's just..."

"Calm down." Arin said softly. "It'll be okay. The people look up to you, as you've said."

Alan had Arin come in, so he could sit down.

"It's okay to cry if you need to." Arin said. "It's only human."

Alan sobbed, hugging Arin.

"Shall I stay the night?" Arin asked. "Help you sort everything out?"

Alan nodded.

"Well that's fine. Wanna just start tomorrow?"

Alan nodded again. Arin took Alan to bed, covered him up, and went out to the car.

"Let's come in." Arin said. "We're gonna stay the night."

* * *

 **POV: Team Others Shopping Trip(Barry, Edward, Juarez)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 8**

* * *

Edward and Juarez had walked into the T.J. Maxx, Barry having ran the groceries to Ross and Sylv. The store was in a lot worse shape than the previous two, people merely occupying it for shelter. What wasn't bolted down was moved about to make huts. Someone came to them.

"What brings you here?" The person replied. "Looters?"

"No miss." Edward replied. "We intend to pay for what we have."

"Well aren't you cute." The woman said, half sarcastically. "I wouldn't go looking around."

"Why?" Juarez asked. "Those creatures?"

"No." The woman replied, red hair being moved a bit with her hands. "These people here are rather jumpy, giving how those creatures came."

"They're locked up at the Starbucks at the Target." Edward commented. "Took him and three others, barely managed to escape ourselves."

"Well you have my condolences." The woman said. "We've got a spot open if you want to stay."

"No, thanks." Juarez said. "I plan to go home."

"Home?" The woman asked. "What's left of it?"

"My homeland." Juarez replied. "South of the border."

The woman made a soft laugh. "Think they'll _actually_ let you through?"

"Well I'm still fine.' Juarez replied. "If we get somewhere safe to cross."

"You could likely cross illegally as well." Edward replied. "Though there is risk for that."

Juarez nodded.

"Though there is one..." The woman said. "She got infected, and has been holing up in her place since. If you want her..."

"We'd have to ask, but Ross is sure not to mind." Edward replied. "We're presently taking an infected home ourselves. You wouldn't by chance have a leash and collar would you? That'd make people more comfortable to have them around."

"Well actually..." The woman replied. "The PetSmart across the lot just joined a little bit ago... Run by a couple of humans tending to infected victims the best they can, but..."

"Well..." Edward replied. "We could look. Thank you."

"Tell the people at Kohl's I said hi." The woman said. "The name's Alexis. Come back if you want her."

With the T.J Maxx a failure in shopping, they went to the Homegoods, which produced similar results. They seemed to be rival to the T.J Maxx though. The Party City was converted somewhat into the center of government. They were told that the Famous Footwear was the barracks, and that the Staples was, among other things, the citizenship office. They were also told about the two hair places, the nail place, and the doctors on the bit with the Petsmart, which the Staples also occupied. The UPS store was also continuing attempts to deliver mail, and served as the post office for the building. The parking lot was considered a bit of a no man's land though, and a tunnel was set to be dug or a bridge to be built to connect the southern area, whatever was possible. They also noted the goal of taking the whole lot, including the town's actual government center. A flag design contest was also underway. Various flags had been submitted already. One was to be raised under the American flag, as to signify the presence of a party there. The group decided to go to Kohl's, before being told that it was closed, as the Kohl's staff was voting on who was going to lead the new place since the manager was out at the time. They went back to the car, running into Barry. They told the group about the other infected one.

"It's crowded enough here..." Sylv said.

"You wouldn't be lonely back there though." Ross replied. Sylv seemed miffed about it, but okayed the move anyways.

"Well that's good." Edward said. "It scared the people there anyways."

The car drove over to the PetSmart, and Sylv got out, and was leashed, just for the sake of other people. She'd complain, but it beat being in the trunk, so she was quiet. Her, Ross, and Edward came in.

"Hello?" One yelled, bottle-feeding a young Chespin.

"Hi there." Ross said. "We're allowed to have-"

"Don't you dare call me a pet." Sylv interrupted.

"Hm?" The person replied, calling over the PA to have someone redirect that conversation.

A male came up to them.

"Welcome. Excuse our short-staffedness." They said.

"Hi." Sylv replied.

"Why'd you come?" The man asked Ross, brushing his long, brown bangs out of his eyes.

"I'm here for a leash and collar. We're adopting another one of these." Ross replied, pointing out Sylv.

"Eeveelutions are valuable I'm thinking." The man replied. "She looks goopier than most though."

"That's because I am." Sylv replied. "How do you take care of these anyways?"

"Jan stays in the back. She's non-feral like you." The man replied.

"Those seem rare." Sylv replied.

"Well with how many infected there are, they're not too rare. She's mentally immune I believe." The man replied.

"Do the others know about this?" Sylv asked.

"No." The man said. Staples does, so they talk in our interests too.

"So this complex as a whole just joined or?" Edward asked. "We were told you just joined the union."

"Just us." The man replied. "Staples had been in there since day 1."

"Hm..." Sylv replied. "So what do you do around here?"

"Well..." The man said. "Me and my girl are in charge of all of this, and Jan takes care of the infected. Maria has a hazmat suit and has the salon/cleaning area to do."

"How do you guys eat?" Edward asked.

"That's the army's job." The man replied. "Scavenge. Also supplies left at the stores."

"Interesting..." Edward replied.

"Well I have one human-sized collar/leash left that we're not already using..." The man replied.

"How much?" Ross asked, pulling out the wallet.

"Well you can have it." The man replied. "Economy isn't really anything anyways for us. Also you're doing it for good anyways."

"Well..." Edward said. "Thanks."

The man smiled.

"Let's go?" Ross asked. A business card was handed, the man's name being David Johnson, his number there.

"We still get service, so give us a call sometime if you can." David said.

"We will." Ross replied.

Sylv smiled. "Well best of luck."

"You too kid." David replied. "Stay non-feral."

"I'll try." Sylv said.

They left, the trio decided to walk to the T.J Maxx, though Juarez did drive up with them.


	12. The Reembarking

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

 **Note: Gonna try and tie Emily and Colin's stories together today, and leave Lizzy for one of the side arcs later on. Gonna do an auxiliary still, just not yet.**

* * *

 **POV: Crimson Convoy(Colin, Michelle, Greg, Alyssa, Suzy, Audrey[young], Emolga, Tyrone, Mariette, ?,?(Emolga's "friend"), George, Vicky, Adela[young], Amelia, Unnamed Male)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 10**

* * *

The Group had just split off from Emily, and they were ready to go. However, the male had begun to come to once they were on the move.

"Hello?" The man asked.

"Nice to see you're awake." Alyssa noted.

"Where am I?" The man asked, worried.

"You're in a car. This is the Crimson Convoy, or at least some of it. We rescued you from those creatures." Alyssa replied. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Alejandro..." The man replied. "And you are?"

"I'm Alyssa. That's Greg, Michelle, and Mariette. The last of those three doesn't speak english." Alyssa replied.

"Why'd you take them with then?" Alejandro asked.

"Because they wanted to live." Alyssa replied.

Alejandro understood. Mariette sniffled a bit, remembering losing her husband.

"We're gonna try and take her home. Or at least to Quebec." Greg replied.

"Did you guys lose any back at town?" Alejandro asked.

"Not in the town itself." Greg replied, forgetting about Matt.

"We did lose some people in exploration shortly before." Michelle replied.

"Ah." Alejandro asked. "I don't remember what happened to my group very well."

"Its fuzzy, but I think you were ambushed, I tried helping." Alyssa replied.

"Thanks for saving me then?" Alejandro replied.

Alyssa nodded, smiling.

"Well..." Alejandro said. "Where _are_ we headed?"

"We're gonna follow this up north, get to Seattle, maybe get into Canada." Alyssa replied. "Or that's what Colin said."

"Colin the leader?" Alejandro asked. Alyssa nodded.

"I think we'll stop at the next town up." Greg noted. "See if there's anything or anyone there."

"Aren't there enough people?" Alejandro asked.

"Well giving how often we go through people..." Alyssa replied. "We've got like a rotating back cast."

Alejandro shrugged. "Well I guess if you must."

"We might keep our numbers the same if we would not lose people every other six hours." Michelle replied.

"Ah..." Alejandro noted. "Why not try and prevent that?"

"Just bad timing, you know?" Alyssa replied. "Well with the attack..."

"Ah..." Alejandro replied.

Alyssa nodded. "We didn't lose many, but our friends did."

"Friends?" Alejandro.

"Yeah." Alyssa replied. "We're kind of a patchwork team."

Greg nodded. "Us three and Colin were the original members."

"Interesting." Alejandro replied. "Think you'll make it?"

"You never know." Alyssa replied. "I'm confident the _C_ _onvoy_ will, just maybe not us."

Alejandro shrugged. "I guess so."

"Anyways." Alyssa replied. "Welcome to the Convoy. We hope you enjoy your stay, and that it's more than a day."

Alejandro nodded, thanking Alyssa.

While they were chatting, Colin was talking to the remaining Grump, Suzy.

"What are we gonna do with the rest of the refugees?" Suzy asked.

"Drop them off at the next town that's safe." Colin replied. "We've got enough people with us."

Suzy looked back at Audrey, sighing.

Colin didn't know what to say. It was just the three of them in the van, due to the fact that the rest of the convoy managed to be in Emily's old car.

Suzy ate her candy bar, thanking Colin for it.

"The least I can do." Colin replied. "You actually _knew_ that person. The Convoy is only as old as this place is."

"You seemed to know each other better than that..." Suzy replied.

"Yeah, we met online." Colin replied. "Hardly counts in comparison."

Suzy nodded. "Well as you said... Gotta keep going."

Colin nodded back. "We've gotta continue. Seattle or die trying."

Suzy grinned, sniffling.

"You're gonna make a good mom." Colin replied.

"You think so?.." Suzy asked.

"I'm pretty sure. Maybe you'll even re-meet that person you were talking about you liked." Colin replied.

"Arin?" Suzy asked. "Yeah."

"Yeah, him." Colin answered.

Suzy peered at Emolga. "You haven't seen much, have you?"

"No..." Emolga said. "Can talk better though!"

"I noticed." Suzy replied. "A lot faster."

"Still broke though." Emolga replied. "Not good much."

Suzy nodded. "You'll get there!"

Emolga smiled. Suzy didn't seem to have the hard feelings that others had about her since the escape.

"What's being like that like?" Suzy whispered to the Emolga.

'Weird." The Emolga replied, also quiet. "Wet."

"Wet?" Suzy asked. Emolga pointed out her drippiness.

"Ah." Suzy replied. "Anything else?"

"Warm." Emolga replied. Suzy nodded.

"Think I could become one?" Suzy asked, no longer attached to the human party as much.

"No." Emolga said. "Be called bad."

"You would be called bad?" Suzy asked. Emolga nodded.

"Well I guess if I couldn't talk, I couldn't defend you..." Suzy replied. "You're not too good at it yourself..."

"Yeah..." Emolga replied. "no turn."

Suzy nodded, slightly upset, thanking Emolga for conversation. Once they were done, Colin had gotten off the Interstate.

"Where are we going?" The duo said, Suzy more coherent than Emolga.

"I found some signs for a fort. We're gonna drop off the refugees, and they'll stay there." Colin replied.

"Cool!" The duo said again.

"you two like each other?" Colin asked. "I won't judge."

Emolga blushed. Suzy didn't seem to mind as much.

"Well..." Suzy said. "We're friends at least!"

Colin laughed a bit. "Well we'll be dropping off the groups."

Suzy looked outside, as the group arrived at the fort.

"State your business." The guard said.

"We're looking to drop some people off." Colin replied.

"Hm..." The guard said, a lady. "Come on in."

Colin started to drive in, wondering what was going to be there.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Liam, Pidove, Glameow, Emmy(Eevee), Heather(Audino), Wooper, Lisa)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 6**

* * *

Arin had just gotten up, having calmed down Alan, convincing him to keep his little checkpoint going.

Dan had just come in to say hello, visibly tired.

"You're up early." Arin told Dan.

"Emmy stayed up _all_ night." Dan replied. "She's really excited. She wants to see the world."

"Well tell her if it's at all possible, we'll take her to New York City."

"Why NYC?" Dan asked.

"I was gonna see if Jon knew of anywhere we could stay." Arin replied.

"Right." Dan said back, yawning. "Fair enough."

"Is Heather still asleep?" Arin asked. Dan nodded.

"Ah." Arin replied. "Was gonna have her help chat up Emmy and them."

"Makes sense." Dan replied. Arin nodded.

"Think she's ever been anywhere?" Arin asked Dan.

"Emmy?" Dan asked. "Probably. She likely has parents. Or had."

Arin nodded in agreement.

"Let's wait for the others to get up." Arin said. Dan proposed turning on the television. A few things were on the television, but no signs of what to come.

"Fine." Dan replied. "Let's do that."

* * *

 **3 Hours Later...**

* * *

Alan had just come in, looking to see what the weather was. The weather happened to be on, though the newscaster did seem rather somber about the weather. Alan didn't seem to notice, but Arin talked about it to Dan. Dan didn't know _why_ the weather was so sad, suggesting it was just a thing that happened over here.

"Feeling better?" Arin asked. Alan nodded.

"Thanks for that last night..." Alan replied. "I forgot how much these people depend on me."

"And outsiders need your help too." Arin said. "Make yourself a village. Take in who you can. Maybe defend the place."

Alan wrote these down after grabbing a pen and paper.

Arin smiled at Alan. "There you go."

"Well..." Alan replied. "I know you have to go, but can I take your picture?"

"Sure!" Arin noted. Alan took a picture of the two Grumps, it printing as the camera was one of those that printed.

Arin and Dan decided to head out after this, thanking Alan for the place to stay and have breakfast. Alan smiled, thanking Arin for inspiring him to continue. The group drove off, returning to the interstate. Signs with the amount of miles to Arizona were graffitied with various disheartening messages, mostly about how about how "salvation wouldn't come". Heather expressed her worries. After about 5 more minutes of driving, they came to a makeshift checkpoint right before the Colorado river. It seemed mostly abandoned. Arin came to a stop, knocking on the door of the building.

"Hello?" Arin said. No response. Arin knocked harder. Dan noticed someone in the window.

"We're friendly!" Dan yelled. "Trust us!"

After this, the door slowly began to unlock, someone peeking out.

"Hello?" They said.

"Hi." Arin said. "We were checking to see if the checkpoint was still up."

"Oh." The person, an elderly male, said. "There's nobody here anymore but me. Those slimes went right past. They're abandoning the four corners today.

"Four more states?" Arin said, stunned. "Is it _that_ bad?"

"Yes." The man replied. "I hear they're just gonna keep retreating until they get the thing delivered they need."

"You know what that is?" Arin asked.

"Above my pay-grade." The man said.

"Oh." Arin said. "Fine then."

Lisa was watching the slimes, kinda worried about being around them as she was. Dan went back to reassure her.

Arin went in, the man showing off what he had left.

"I'm just gonna wait here. When my time comes, it'll come." The man said.

"You sure?" Arin replied. "We can find room for you. There's a place like 10 minutes out..."

"No, thank you." The man said. "I'll be fine here."

Arin pointed it out on the map anyways, in case the man changed his mind. Wishing the man goodbye, he got back in his vehicle.

"What are we gonna do?" Arin asked.

"Keep going." Heather replied. "We'll make it."

Emmy nodded. She wanted to see the world, after all.

"Well..." Dan replied. "We can't really go back, can we?"

Arin sighed. "I guess you're right. It'd be too much traffic to make it back."

Emmy barked happily. They _were_ gonna keep going!

The group decided to just keep going, as Emmy had discovered. They didn't know what Arizona would bring them, but they hoped it was good.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross, Sylv, Edward, Juarez)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 9**

* * *

The Quartet(Sylv keeping watch of the car), had just walked back into the T.J Maxx, seeking to pick up the infected that was scaring everyone.

Edward went to it first, peeking in. The person, er, Pokemon inside backed up, making some feral noises.

"Calm down..." Edward said. "We're not gonna hurt you..."

"Careful in there kid." Juarez said, not liking this _at_ _all._

The Pokemon calmed down a tiny bit, exposing a bit of herself to the light.

"See?" Edward replied, backing up. "Just follow me..."

The Pokemon seemed extremely scared, but followed Edward. Juarez and the lady in charge were told to scatter as to not scare her, which they did.

The Pokemon came out of her hidey-hole, going back barely inside upon seeing the two Grumps.

"It's okay..." Edward said softly. "They're friends."

"F-friends?" The Pokemon replied, considering hiding fully again. Edward nodded.

"You'll be safe with them." Edward replied. "Don't worry..."

The Pokemon came out, revealing herself to be an Emolga.

"See..." Edward replied. "You're a cutie. Just gotta be out in the light."

The Emolga blushed some, too timid to thank Edward.

Edward smiled, sitting down as to reach her eye level. She stretched out, revealing her white furred chest and belly, along with her large flaps.

"Now would you like something to wear? That might make you feel a bit more human." Edward asked.

"Sure!" The Emolga said weakly. Edward and the Emolga went off to go find something she'd fit in. She quickly found some pants she liked, and a dress to go with, which could simply have the sides cut to fit her flaps. The duo went to a dressing room area in order to get that on. An overall like shirt was worn under it. It worked a lot better, since unlike a real flying squirrel, an Emolga has flaps down to its lower hips. Not as useful for gliding in her case, but it'd manage due to her anatomy otherwise, with much thinner legs than Sylv, this time for design. Edward and his new friend came out to show the trio of other teammates. "That's Barry, Ross, and Juarez." Edward introduced them to the Emolga.

"Hi." Ross said. Barry said the same. Juarez seemed worried still.

"h-hi.." The Emola responded.

Edward did a fake hug, since he couldn't _really_ hug the Pokemon after all. She took the gesture for what it was, but was mildly upsetted that it couldn't be real.

"Wanna come with us?" Edward asked.

The Emolga nodded excitedly. Edward seemed like a nice boy, and it beat hiding here all day. Edward went to let the lady in charge know of this decision, which she(the lady in charge) was quite happy about. Juarez wasn't very happy about the move, having ignored the Sylveon due to her established membership before he joined. Though for the Emolga, on the other hand, there were more than just the nice boy.

"You fine with that?" Edward asked Barry and Ross. Neither minded the extra slime.

"Yay!" The Emolga yelled, having to catch herself from hugging her new friend. Edward blew her a kiss instead, giving that kisses travelled better than hugs. The Emolga seemed to like this.

"Well what do we call you then?" Ross asked.

"Oh..." The Emolga replied. "How about..." She didn't want to admit she had forgotten it at the moment.

"How about Isabelle?" Edward asked. The Emolga nodded.

"For now..." The newly named Isabelle replied.

"Well you don't have any records yet." Edward said. "You have time to decide!"

Isabelle grinned a bit.

"Shall we?" Ross asked. The two new friends nodded.

Barry lead the five outside, showing Sylv the other slime.

"How come _she_ gets clothes?" Sylv asked, noting her outfit.

"You didn't take any." Ross replied. Sylv sighed, accepting that reasoning. "We can get you some later though."

"Well who _is_ she anyways?" Sylv asked.

"That's Isabelle." Edward. "Isabelle, that's Sylv. She was here when I joined."

Isabelle looked at the fellow Pokemon. "You..."

"Yeah yeah..." Sylv said, tired of this reaction. "Talking slime, I know, rare..."

"Its..." Isabelle said. "Good..."

'Yeah, good to have your humanity intact..." Sylv said, unsure about that due to the experiments that were performed on here as a lab-subject for a couple of days.

Isabelle chuckled, before seeming upset.

"Transformation's unpleasant, I know..." Sylv replied. "IT gets better though..."

"It..." Isabelle replied. "Does?"

"Yeah." Sylv said. "You do get worse, all goopy, you can't stay together too well, but then, it'll just end. You'll be a solid mass again, unable to infect anyone you don't want to."

"Goopy?" Isabelle asked.

"Yeah..." Sylv demonstrated, melting into a puddle, before coming back into form. "Like that."

Isabelle seemed spooked. "You're liquid..."

Sylv nodded. "You'll be too. But it's like pudding. You just have to set. Also you have to stay in the trunk. Infection reasons. We can chat though."

Isabelle seemed off-put, but it beat being stuck inside not going anywhere. _And_ she'd have a friend too. She took a moment to think about this.

"I'll come with." Isabelle replied. Sylv nodded approvingly. "Can you teach me all that melty stuff?"

"Sure!" Sylv replied, letting her happy fairy-type personality come through, wiggling her tail.

"Should we go?" Ross asked.

Sylv nodded, the duo getting into their spots, waiting on the car to move off.


	13. The Car Ride

**Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak, Any YouTubers mentioned are their respected channels.**

 **Rated T for some description of injuries, and possibly some language too.**

 **I'm going to be pretty exact with locations, just from Google Maps. I don't own any companies.**

 **Note: Gonna try and tie Emily and Colin's stories together today, and leave Lizzy for one of the side arcs later on. Gonna do an auxiliary still, just not yet.**

* * *

 **POV: Crimson Convoy(Colin, Michelle, Greg, Alyssa, Suzy, Audrey[young], Emolga, Tyrone, Mariette, ?,?(Emolga's "friend"), George, Vicky, Adela[young], Amelia, Alejandro)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 10**

* * *

The Convoy had just arrived to drop off the Lost Hills Refugees.

The guard had noticed the large amount of cars, stopping Colin's.

"You lead this caravan?" The new guard noted.

"No." Colin replied. "They followed us."

They were shortly after told that no-one with intents not to stay were allowed in. Colin protested this, but it was an easy drop-off locale. The group decided to simply pack up and go. A couple got out, not feeling like this was the place they wanted to stay. Colin radioed this over to his people, who seemed fine enough with it. They'd introduce themselves at the next rest stop.

They began towards the I-5, a few shots from the distant south speeding them up a bit. The next three exits provided nothing, though the last had a landfill. The next one had a town, but due to seemingly already slow progress, they decided to keep going. However, this is when they came into some trouble.

"Hey Tyrone?" Colin radioed over.

"What?" Tyrone replied.

"There's something up there." Colin replied. Upon reaching it, it was a makeshift barricade made by petty bandits. One seemed to be armed. They demanded food and other supplies.

Colin looked at their stuff. Barricade was well put together, but none of the people looked too well armed, besides the one.

"How about a car?" Colin asked.

The bandits paused. They seemed okay with it, signalling so. They had the newly recruited couple get out, and hop into George's truck. They were allowed to grab what they _really_ wanted to keep, which was mostly in the front. They were also warned about the next rest stop, which was filled with harsher parties.

Colin nodded, driving off. The bandits set the car on the northern end of their blockade.

As they warned, the petty thieves were dwarfed by the ones ahead.

"The Empire requires its toll." The guard stated.

"Toll?" Colin asked.

"Yes." The guard said.

Colin thought for a bit. They were already overextended, trying to cover ground they had to cover. Colin used the slime as a threat, the guard pulling out a spear. Suzy decided now was the time to push on the gas pedal, jumping up front to do so. The guard jumped out of the way. Tyrone followed Colin. Alyssa followed Tyrone. George had no supplies to give, but the Growlithe in the back tried pouncing, the mother Arcanine putting her back just before the guard cleared George to go, due to the guard's impending infection. George began chasing after the other three vehicles, falling behind a small army-type force that came after the other three vehicles. These vehicles were quite aggressive, often attempting to spin one or more vehicles out. Tyrone and Alyssa, luckily, were good evasive drivers. Colin and Suzy weren't as much. The duo spun out, Colin requesting the 4 vehicles meet up at the exit that would take you to Lodi. Tyrone agreed, giving that Alyssa didn't have the communications set up in her vehicle. George also agreed, cutting off Colin's radio temporarily. He drove past the blockade, Suzy tempted yet again to just simply transform. However, silently, she snuck in the back, letting herself and then Emolga out. They decided to go on foot for now. The two, along with Audrey, snuck off towards the west, eventually coming to a motorsports store, which would help them later re-unite with the group. Colin, on the other hand, was forced to fight, using what little he had to make a makeshift shiv. The spear-holding ones managed to overpower Colin, though he did manage to poke on in the ankle, managing to take a spear. He managed to fight on for about 15 minutes, before one managed to get his leg with a throwing spear. Colin managed to rush across the highway, falling behind the barrier, managing to hide under the overpass. The group decided Colin not worth it, going to chase the other two vehicles. Alyssa was much more successful in their campaign, managing to take out a vehicle herself. They managed to chase the other two vehicles through the next four exits, along with the spilt with Route 120 and the merger with I-205. Tyrone was leading, the group managing to take out another one of the pursuing vehicles. The group went through 8 more exits, before coming to a full interchange, managing to shake a few vehicles by taking one of the ramps on to the other road, and then turning around and going on the ramp that leads back to the original road. After a few exits, they eventually found someone more friendly, after the pursuing vehicles decided to go back.

"Phew." Alyssa said to Tyrone once they had both stopped and got out.

"Well some of us made it." Tyrone replied, taking inventory of who made it. After that, George came in to meet with them as well.

"So everyone except Suzy and Colin right?" Alyssa replied.

"The kid and the two slimes too." Tyrone replied. George waved.

"Nice to see ya." Tyrone replied.

"Feeling's mutual." George said.

"Shall we see what's here?" Alyssa asked. George nodded.

The trio parked, and decided to go in with the whole group. George seemed slightly worried about re-unifying with the group, due to the pursuit they had before them. The clan they had encountered may have had allies further north and all. He shrugged it off slightly and went in.

* * *

 **POV: Team Grump Official(Arin, Dan, Liam, Pidove, Glameow, Emmy(Eevee), Heather(Audino), Wooper, Lisa)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 6**

* * *

Arin had just went into the recently abandoned Arizona.

Emmy was really excited about this, getting to see things.

The other two Pokemon weren't too excited about this as much, mostly a mild annoyance of the vee's enthusiasm.

However, they came to a Pokemon-filled checkpoint-type thing, the Arizona side of the state border. Arin seemed worried about this, giving that they might not be friendly. Heather decided to check if there was anything due to this. It was mostly younger Pokemon trying to have fun.

"Hello?" Heather asked, most of them trying to pounce on what they thought was a human.

"Oh hello there!" Heather replied. "Aren't you cute!"

The seeming leader, a Wooper, smiled.

"We're just gonna pass through, okay?" Heather asked. The Wooper seemed to not mind. Heather relayed the message, and the convoy kept on going.

Meanwhile, in the Grump's car, Pidove had just wrote something for Emmy. Emmy wanted to see Phoenix. Arin found that reasonable, as it was on the way anyways. Emmy seemed happy because of this. They found a lot more aggressive destruction in Arizona's first city that they had found, that being Quartzite. There was a war going on between the slimes, and two factions of humans. The two human factions relied on scorched earth tactics to avoid getting infected, as people and Pokemon had issues with navigating rubble. This caused the group to have an issue with navigating. They found many bodies, some being looked at by slimes needing friends. Many began peering at the vehicles, Glameow telling them to stay, and that she would handle it. The small troop base, sporting whatever they could get their hands on, some wearing armor from the museum that wasn't too far. The main road was full of rubble, and Glameow had rapidly cornered three humans in a hold of their own creation. One begged for mercy, the other two pouncing. Glameow took some hits, but managed to easily infect the two. The third tried scampering off, Glameow noticing, nodding, seeming to convey a 'don't come back' sort of message with their eyes. She hopped back into the car, but not before resuscitating someone on the road. They seemed panicked at their transformation when they came back, but they were happy to be alive, as bullet wounds would have left them very likely to bleed out there if someone hadn't done anything. Giving the amount of slime on the ground from drippy slimes, they elected not to get out, however there was a road that lead further inside the city. They elected to take that road, soon coming to a church. It was a baptist church. Arin got out, went up, and knocked on the door, it being one of the few buildings left standing and slimeless. A pastor came out, asking the business of the Grump.

"I was seeing what's here." Arin replied. "There's not much left here..."

"You can say that again." The Pastor replied. "You can get through through the I-10, though I'm not sure for how much longer..."

"You have anyone here?" Arin asked.

"A couple dozen." The Pastor replied. "The huddled masses, of what's left anyways."

"What's left?" Arin asked.

"Not much." The Pastor replied. "This is probably 50% of who is left on this end of the rubble wall."

"Rubble wall?" Arin asked.

"Yes." The Pastor replied. "The rubble has separated most areas of the city from vehicle travel, and the slime has separated it from foot travel."

"Makes sense." Arin replied. "How are you so clean?"

"We made peace with the slimes." The Pastor said.

"How?" Arin asked.

"We simply arranged through pictures that we get this section, and they leave our circle of rubble alone. Well we can get out, but you know what I mean." The Pastor replied.

"What about the outside slimes?" Arin asked.

"They're a problem, but they don't stray here as much due to the territorial conflict." The Pastor replied.

"So I guess you have it good." Arin replied.

The Pastor shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

Arin smiled, trying to comfort the man of religion. "Keep up the good fight."

"I will." The Pastor said. "This may be punishment from the Lord, but our prayers, and holiness should keep us safe."

Arin smiled, not really agreeing super much with prayer as a solution, but anything to keep morale up.

The Pastor smiled back, giving Arin a brochure as to remember the place by.

"I'll let them know you're here." Arin said. "Well whoever's left."

The Pastor nodded. "Thank you." He didn't quite know what Arin meant, but thought he had meant the feds.

Arin came back, wondering what was going on since. Dan was chatting with Emmy again, using Glameow and Pidove as interpreters.

"You two like each other?" Arin said playfully. Emmy blushed, stammering.

"Can we not be friends?" Dan asked. "I've gotta pay attention to the road when we're driving."

"Fair." Arin replied. "Just messing with you a bit though."

"It's fine." Dan said. "I think Emmy feels something though giving the blush."

This aggravated Emmy's blush. She _did_ like Dan, somewhat. She liked both grumps like that, but Arin was taken.

Heather radioed in to say hello. Wooper, even though he couldn't speak English, did the same.

"What do you two want now?" Arin asked, as nicely as possible.

"We were wondering if we were going somewhere." Heather asked. "I'd prefer to leave the town."

Arin nodded, saying that was what they were going to do.

"Fine." Heather said, thanking Arin for not chanceing a battle.

* * *

 **POV: Team Others(Barry, Ross, Sylv, Edward, Juarez, Isabelle)**

 **Time: Day 2, Hour 9**

* * *

Sylv and Isabelle now shared the trunk. They started chatting.

"So um..." Isabelle asked. "Does it get hot in here?"

"Yeah somewhat." Sylv replied. "Doesn't bother me too much, giving how the body temperature doesn't matter too much when you're this liquidy."

"Can you freeze?" Isabelle asked.

"It's not been cold enough to find out." Sylv replied.

"Can you boil?" Isabelle asked.

"Probably." Sylv replied. "Unsure if i can survive that though."

"Can we transform each other?" Isabelle asked.

"I could cover you up as goop, but no. Once I got off you'd be back to normal."

"Think we could try that sometime?" Isabelle asked.

"Wouldn't be too useful." Sylv replied. "You've got those flaps so you'd be recognizable as your real species."

"Oh." Isabelle commented.

"Plus I might absorb the outfit on accident." Sylv said with a bit of a giggle.

"Ah." Isabelle replied.

"Though we're not completely isolated.' Sylv said, demonstrating the seat that went down for trunk access.

"What is it?" Edward asked, Juarez startled that the slimes had a way to get in.

"Just showing Isabelle that if she needs anything we can ask you." Sylv replied.

"Okay then." Edward replied, putting the seat back.

Sylv stretched out, becoming a bit more viscous.

"You like being all goopy?" Isabelle asked.

"Yeah... Feels nice... Get enough of yourself going and it's like being in a hot tub kind of." Sylv replied.

Isabelle seemed confused by the analogy.

"You'll understand when you can melt." Sylv replied. "It's something you have to experience kind of."

"Okay..." Isabelle replied.

"You want a hug?" Sylv asked, solidifying as much as she could to give it. Isabelle nodded, Sylv giving a hug, going back to her melty form when she let go.

Isabelle sighed. "We're gonna be okay right?"

"So long as these humans are here, we should be fine." Sylv said. "On our own, we're no different than any of those creatures out there."

Isabelle seemed scared by this statement.

"It'll be fine. They'll make it, so we'll make it." Sylv said. Isabelle seemed mildly comforted by that idea, but didn't like the idea of being dependant on others.

"You sure?" Isabelle asked. Sylv nodded yet again.

"You better not be wrong..." Isabelle replied to the nod.

"I won't." Sylv said. "Just calm down."

"I'll try..." Isabelle replied.

"That's the spirit." Sylv replied. "Now let's just wait, unless you wanna talk about anything else."

"How'd you get here?" Isabelle asked.

"Well..." Sylv replied. "I was there when this first all started."

"This?" Isabelle asked.

Sylv pointed at herself. "The goopy stuff getting on people."

"Ah." Isabelle replied.

"Mhm." Sylv replied. "I wandered around, scaring everyone, and this man named Bernie took me in, and then Ross and Barry came, and I wanted to leave, so I went with them. We went and explored around Bernie's domain, and then I packed up and left."

"And then what?" Isabelle asked.

"Well we came to those stores there." Sylv replied. "I went into the Home Depot, and then I went back to the car to not scare everyone. They went and explored other stores, and I went into the PetSmart, and then we met you!"

"Ah." Isabelle said. "I don't really have to wear a leash, do I?"

"Only in the presence of other humans." Sylv said. "I know it isn't very fun..."

Isabelle nodded.

"You won't be the only one." Sylv replied.

Isabelle smiled lightly.

"DOn't worry." Sylv said. "You've got someone really experienced at this with you."

"Okay..." Isabelle replied, hugging the goopy sylv, falling right through her, splashing a bit. Slyv laughed.

"I'm sorry..." Isabelle said.

"It's fine!" Sylv said, reforming into a smaller sylveon anthro due to the splashed about slime. "It's kinda fun."

"Really?" Isabelle asked.

Sylv nodded, still trying not to laugh. She wagged her tail.

"It is warm..." Isabelle said.

"Well you warm up with no real harm, so..." Sylv replied. "Unless you're steaming that is. That can have issues."

"What do you think those issues might be?" Isabelle asked.

"Reformation." Sylv said. "Especially if you get turned into rain."

"Ah..." Isabelle said. "Being rain might not be fun."

"It's the after the fact that I'd dislike." Sylv said. "Liquid-play is pretty fun."

"So what do you think we should do for these long rides?" Isabelle asked.

"Generally I sleep as a barely not-liquid sylveon." Sylv said. "You're not quite goopy enough to do that yet." Sylv replied.

"Oh okay." Isabelle replied. "Should we nap now?"

"Sure." Sylv said, cuddling up against her slimy buddy for warmth. Isabelle liked this, as Sylv felt rather warm. The two slowly dozed off as Ross kept driving.


End file.
